ERNEST MANCOBA
Born 1904 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Died 2002 in Clamart, France.
Ernest Mancoba strove to bring his deep understanding of African culture to European art. He achieved this synthesis through delicate linear compositions on paper and canvas, each featuring a central totem-like figure composed with controlled, vibrant lines and subtle splashes of diffused color. Not only do these works engage with the paradigms of European modernism, but they also reflect the umuntu philosophy he so often referred to: A human is a human by and for other people. After the end of apartheid, Mancoba was honoured with large retrospectives at the National Gallery in Cape Town and the Museum of Modern Art in Johannesburg.
Ernest Mancoba (1904-2002) was born and raised a black man under the South African apartheid system. In 1938 he moved to Paris to be able to study and, as he later wrote in a text for the Danish artist Ejler Bille's 90th birthday, to work, and especially think, freely as an artist. In Paris, Mancoba met with the Danish artists' colony and soon joined the CoBrA circle. In 1942, he married the Danish artist, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba. They both showed at Høstudstillingen in Copenhagen in 1948 and 1949.
Ernest Mancoba's work represents a unique synthesis of modern European art and African spirit. His goal was to bring to European art his deep understanding of African culture, represented by the frequently appearing totems in his drawings and paintings that reflect the umuntu philosophy he so often referred to: A human is a human by and for other people. After the end of apartheid, Mancoba was honoured with large retrospectives at the National Gallery in Cape Town and the Museum of Modern Art in Johannesburg.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (1), 1985, Oil on canvas, 31.5 x 25.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (2), 1963, Oil on canvas ,24 x 19.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (3), Oil on canvas, 16.5 x 13 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (4), 1958, Oil on canvas, 16.5 x 13 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (Figure 5), Ink on paper, 11 x 10.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (Figure 8), Ink and oil pastel on paper, 19.5 x 13 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (Figure 10), Ink and watercolor on paper, 16.5 x 11.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (V.3), 1993, Ink and oil pastel on paper, 8.5 x 12.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
Ernest Mancoba, Untitled (V.8), 1993, Ink and oil pastel on paper, 12.5 x 19.5 in
Image courtesy of the Estate of Ernest Mancoba and Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
If museums are serious about globalizing their collections, it won't do just to pick out a few Africans or Asians or Latin Americans whose art superficially resembles what the West already approbates. Art history has to be preconceived as a perpetual migration of artists, images and ideas - across oceans, across decades. A sterling case study awaits in the upstairs space of Aicon Gallery, displaying the lean, precise, calligraphic abstractions of Ernest Mancoba (1904 - 2002), a South African painter who spent his career in Denmark and France.
