A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / This study places research detailing the scientific and political underpinnings of the kind of viewing employed in the British landscape painting tradition against its deployment in the British colonies of South Africa and Australia. This research was used to examine how sensing ‘home’ and sensing a ‘different place’ occur. The ‘embedded’ experience of a specific landscape as exemplified by the established artistic traditions of Aboriginal and San cultures is set against the practice of a distanced, externalized viewing developed in relation to optical technologies and the detached vision required of the colonial traveller. This thesis explores three modes of relating to the landscape via representation and their construction of home. It looks in detail at British landscape representation, then at San and Aborigine representations of their experiences of the landscape. I then follow the person of Thomas Baines, an expedition artist, in order to briefly explore the confrontation of the British settler with an unfamiliar, foreign landscape in the colony. Concomitant to this exploration is the consideration of the possible sensual biases at play in the articulation of landscape. The experience of spatiality is predominantly defined in terms of sight. Touch bears on this experience not only in its literalisation in the arts as a response to ‘texture’ or emotive feeling, but it has effects beyond this, or in the depth of this, specifically its involvement in constructions of ‘proximity’. Being cultivated are degrees of sensitivity to what comes to happen in ‘close space’ – where the event occurs, one that is hoped by the settler to be reciprocal, although never fully so, to his perception at that moment. The articulation of sensuality involved in constructing landscape representation traditions offers crucial insights into how present orientations to landscape operate. / MT2016

Historians of photography have generally represented colonial photography as a predictable and oppressive genre. Taking the Belgian Congo (1885–1960) as its subject, this dissertation argues that the medium has also been the instrument of a rapprochement between metropole and colony, not only in the hands of Europeans, but also in those of Africans, as the consequence of a long-lasting reaction against the worldwide diffusion of the so-called “Congo atrocities” pictures (1904–1908). Chapter One explores this pivotal episode in the history of photography. The exceptional violence of these images prompted the counter-development of a representational ideal—the colonie modèle—that was deployed at two historical moments: first, in the interwar period with the illustrated magazine L’Illustration Congolaise, and after World War II with the governmental photographic service InforCongo. In Chapter Two and Three, the studies of L’Ilustration Congolaise and InforCongo trace how this colonial rapprochement was encouraged by increasingly representing Congolese décor and subjects as the mirrored image of Belgium, until it peaked in the late colonialism’s concept of a “Belgian-Congolese community.” Chapters Four and Five turn to Congolese family albums and queries how Africans’ self-representations sought to integrate—or not—the model colony. Based on research carried out in Belgium and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this dissertation is the first in-depth study of a history of photography in the Congo and the first comprehensive history of photography within a single colonial regime. Similarly, this project presents the first in-depth study of African family albums, examined in the multiple aspects that make up the significance of the photographic subject’s experience. Photography in the Belgian Congo developed in three contexts: European, African and colonial, which overlap but have usually been explored separately. This dissertation aims to weave together these different aspects, fully appreciating and integrating the vivid racial tensions inherent in a colonial system, but ultimately aspiring to complicate the visual colonial relations materialized in photography by taking into consideration parameters of assimilation and collaboration, co-authorship, or again, seduction.

À travers l’étude des peintres français partis au Maroc pendant le Protectorat, cette thèse examine la structuration et le développement de l’art colonial, courant qui succède à l’orientalisme au tournant des XIXe et XXe siècles. Loin d’être un phénomène isolé, le séjour dans ce pays pendant la période coloniale concerne des centaines d’artistes. Ces voyages sont encouragés et parfois même financés par des sociétés artistiques métropolitaines et par les gouvernements coloniaux. À Paris, des Salons et des expositions, comme les Expositions coloniales ou universelles, réservent des espaces spécifiques aux œuvres sur les colonies. Plusieurs artistes, critiques et conservateurs tentent par ailleurs de montrer de quelle manière l’art colonial est utile pour la propagande colonialiste. Après avoir retracé l’expérience marocaine des peintres français, il s’agira de présenter les principales institutions artistiques et culturelles occidentales dans le Protectorat. L’art colonial reprend certains thèmes orientalistes, mais leur apporte davantage de sobriété, de pondération et de vraisemblance. L’iconographie coloniale marocaine se distingue de celles des autres colonies par le nombre important d’œuvres consacrées aux cavaliers, aux Berbères et aux monuments historiques. Cette spécificité est due en partie à la politique culturelle menée par Lyautey, au développement de l’ethnographie marocaine et aux objectifs assignés à l’art colonial. Cette analyse est complétée par un dictionnaire des artistes du corpus. / Through the study of French painters gone to Morocco during the Protectorate, this thesis reviews the structures and the emergence of Colonial art, which followed Orientalism at the turn of the century. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, hundreds of artists stayed in this country during the colonial period. The journey is motivated and even sometimes founded by artistic metropolitan societies and by colonial governments. In Paris, Salons and exhibitions such as World's Fairs and Colonial exhibitions dedicate specific areas to works on the colonies. Many artists, critics or curators also attempt to demonstrate how Colonial art can be useful to colonial propaganda. After outlining the French painters’ Moroccan experience, the main artistic and cultural occidental institutions during the Protectorate will be presented. Colonial art continues to represent some Orientalist themes but integrate them with more restraint, moderation and realism. Moroccan colonial iconography can be distinguished from the other colonies by the amount of work dedicated to horse riders, to Berbers and to historical monuments. This particularity is partly due to the cultural policy pursued by Lyautey, to the development of Moroccan ethnography and to the specific goals targeted for Colonial art. This analysis is followed by a dictionary of the artists corpus.

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Culitivated Tastes argues for a new evaluation of colonial landscape art and representations of nature from the Netherlands Indies (colonial Indonesia). The thesis focuses on examples from Java, Sumatra, Ambon and Bali during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but also discusses early post-colonial literature. It uses paintings and photography, with supporting references to Dutch colonial novels, to argue that images of landscape and nature were linked to the formation of Dutch colonial identities and, more generally, to the politics of colonial expansion. Paintings were not simply colonial kitsch (mooi Indi??, or 'beautiful Indies', images): they were the purest expression of Dutch ideals about the peaceful, prosperous landscapes that were crucial to uncontested colonial rule. Often these ideals were contradicted by historical reality. Indeed, paintings rarely showed Dutch interventions in Indies landscapes, particularly those that were met with resistance and rebellion. Colonial photographs often supported the painterly ideals of peace and prosperity, but in different ways: photographs celebrated European intrusions upon and restructuring of Indonesian landscapes, communicating the notions of progress and rational, benevolent rule. It is in literature that we find broader discussions of nature, which includes climate as well as topography. Here representations of landscape and nature are explicitly linked to the formation of colonial identities. Dutch anxieties about the boundaries of racial and gender identities were embedded within references to Indies landscape and nature. Inner colonial worlds intersected with perceptions of the larger environment in literature: here the ideals and triumphs associated with Dutch colonial expansion were juxtaposed against fears related to remaining European in a tropical Asian landscape.

Culitivated Tastes argues for a new evaluation of colonial landscape art and representations of nature from the Netherlands Indies (colonial Indonesia). The thesis focuses on examples from Java, Sumatra, Ambon and Bali during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but also discusses early post-colonial literature. It uses paintings and photography, with supporting references to Dutch colonial novels, to argue that images of landscape and nature were linked to the formation of Dutch colonial identities and, more generally, to the politics of colonial expansion. Paintings were not simply colonial kitsch (mooi Indi??, or 'beautiful Indies', images): they were the purest expression of Dutch ideals about the peaceful, prosperous landscapes that were crucial to uncontested colonial rule. Often these ideals were contradicted by historical reality. Indeed, paintings rarely showed Dutch interventions in Indies landscapes, particularly those that were met with resistance and rebellion. Colonial photographs often supported the painterly ideals of peace and prosperity, but in different ways: photographs celebrated European intrusions upon and restructuring of Indonesian landscapes, communicating the notions of progress and rational, benevolent rule. It is in literature that we find broader discussions of nature, which includes climate as well as topography. Here representations of landscape and nature are explicitly linked to the formation of colonial identities. Dutch anxieties about the boundaries of racial and gender identities were embedded within references to Indies landscape and nature. Inner colonial worlds intersected with perceptions of the larger environment in literature: here the ideals and triumphs associated with Dutch colonial expansion were juxtaposed against fears related to remaining European in a tropical Asian landscape.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the role played by drawings in the creation of knowledge. The study specifically focuses on drawings of the South African landscape and how it led to knowledge of our country. The Western perception of the concept of nature in relation to culture or civilisation is investigated by brief reference to a few periods in Western history. It is argued that man and nature was separated in Western thought by the establishment of rational thinking. This concept led to man's exploitation of nature to his own advantage. The division between man and nature was broadened in the quest for technological advancement. The first European travellers came to South Africa with a Western mind set, hoping for better economical conditions. The illustrated traveller's report reflects the verbal and visual capturing and exploitation of the South African landscape. It is further argued that European travellers tried to structure the landscape according to Western aesthetical traditions. Drawings appear to be picturesque but have radical political, economical and social implications. Colonial depictions created knowledge, but in fact symbolically legitimise the expansion of power. Until the middle of the twentieth century Western aesthetic traditions were applied to visual depictions of the South African landscape. During this period, artists were uncritical of the oppressive political system and in doing so gave their tacit consent. Ever since the middle of the twentieth century, several artists voiced their opinions against the unfair policy of the ruling political party. Visual images asked subtle questions and gave radical judgements; thus knowledge was created and a contribution made to the freedom of all South Africans. My drawings of South African landscapes are to be understood against this theoretical background. I use drawings to ask questions about the relationship between the visual image and the establishment of knowledge. I also refer to the relationship between the original and the copy, reality, the photo and the drawing. I conclude the following: drawings lead to the creation of knowledge and landscape depictions have implications of power. The solution to this problem lies, in the end, once more III drawings.My depictions of South African landscapes are given as an answer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is 'n ondersoek na die rol wat visuele beelde kan speel in die oordrag van idees. Daar word spesifiek gekyk na hoe tekeninge van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap gelei het tot die totstandkoming van kennis oor ons land. Die Westerse verstaan van die begrip natuur in verhouding tot kultuur of beskawing word ondersoek deur kortliks te verwys na 'n paar periodes gedurende die Westerse geskiedenis. Daar word aangevoer dat Westerse denke die mens en die natuur van mekaar geskei het deur die instelling van rasionele denke. So het daar 'n geloof in menslike rede ontstaan. Dié beskouing het daartoe gelei dat die mens die natuur begin uitbuit het tot eie voordeel. Die kloof tussen mens en natuur het al hoe dieper geword in 'n strewe na tegnologiese vooruitgang. Die eerste Europese reisigers het vanuit 'n Westerse verwysingsraamwerk na Suid-Afrika gekom met die hoop op beter ekonomiese vooruitsigte. Die geïllustreerde reisverslag weerspieël die inneming en uitbuiting van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap visueel en verbaal. Daar word aangevoer dat Europese reisigers die landskap deur middel van tekeninge, uitgevoer volgens Westerse estetiese tradisies, probeer struktureer het. Tekeninge kom skilderagtig voor, maar het radikale politiese, ekonomiese en sosiale implikasies. Koloniale tekeninge het kennis geskep en in werklikheid magsuitbreiding simbolies gelegitimeer. Westerse estetiese tradisies is tot die middel van die twintigste eeu toegepas op visuele uitbeeldings van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap. Gedurende dié tydperk het kunstenaars die onderdrukkende, heersende politieke stelsel in werklikheid ondersteun deur totaalonkrities daarteenoor te staan. Teen die middel van die twintigste eeu het verskillende kunstenaars in opstand gekom teen die onregverdige beleid van die regerende party. Visuele beelde is gebruik om subtiele vrae te stel sowel as radikale uitsprake te lewer en het so kennis geskep en bygedra tot die bevryding van alle Suid- Afrikaners. My tekeninge van Suid-Afrikaanse landskappe moet teen dié teoretiese agtergrond gelees word. Ek gebruik teken om vrae steloor die verhouding tussen die visuele beeld en kennis wat so tot stand kom. Daar word verwys na die verhouding tussen oorspronklike en kopie, werklikheid, foto en tekening. Die gevolgtrekking is dat tekeninge kan lei tot die totstandkoming van kennis en dat uitbeeldings van landskappe magsimplikasies kan hê. Die oplossing vir hierdie probleem lê uiteindelik weer in tekeninge. My uitbeeldings van Suid-Afrikaanse landskappe word as antwoord gebied.

Ce travail s'attache à mettre en lumière les liens inévitables entre une architecture exprimant un message universel et les terroirs culturels au milieu desquels elle s'édifie. Prenant le cas jugé exemplaire de la mission catholique à Taiwan, du milieu du XIXe siècle à nos jours, l'analyse des archives missionnaires, ainsi que l'étude de quelques monuments emblématiques, montrent les modalités de l'adaptation chrétienne à un contexte multiculturel insulaire en mutation rapide. La résistance et la malléabilité propres de l'art architectural permettent une étude originale et détaillée de ce va-et-vient constant entre la perception évolutive par les missionnaires du terroir formosan, et la réception, elle-même évolutive, du message chrétien par cette société particulière. En plusieurs étapes, cette recherche plonge au cœur de l'œuvre des Missions Etrangères de Paris dans le diocèse de Hualien, durant les années cinquante et soixante, ancrant les idées directrices de cette thèse dans la réalité d'un terrain suffisamment circonscrit pour en donner une image exhaustive. Le but poursuivi est de montrer comment un bâtiment dédié au culte peut être un objet pertinent, pour la compréhension des rapports entre les cultures et des dynamiques de la mondialisation actuelle. / This study aims at bringing to light the links that are bound to exist between an architecture expressing a universal message and the cultural landscapes where the architecture is built. With the exemplary case of the Catholic mission in Taiwan, from the mid nineteenth century to today, the analysis of the missionary archives, combined with research on several emblematic buildings, will show the modality of the Christian adaptation to this multicultural background of an island undergoing rapid change. The resilience and the malleability specific to the architectural art provide for an original and detailed study of this constant toing and froing between the evolutive perception by the missionaries of the Formosan landscape, and the reception, itself evolutive, by this particular society of the Christian message. Gradually, this thesis immerses itself in the heart of the work of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, in the diocese of Hualien, during the nineteen fifties and sixties, grounding the major concepts in the reality of a field limited enough to make it possible to provide an exhaustive image. The aim is to prove how a place of worship can be relevant for a better understanding of cultural exchanges and the momentum of the current globalization process.

Both Temple and Tomb is a dissertation in two parts. The first part is an examination and analysis of a collection of 'colonial' sculptures on permanent display in the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren Belgium. The second part is a reflection on the author's own paintings, drawings and film and an examination of the critical potential of these images in challenging the colonial narratives of the RMCA. Part I presents two arguments. The first is that European aesthetic codes have been used to legitimize the conquest of the Congo and to award sanction to a voyeuristic gaze. The second is that the organization of the sculptures of Africans (and European females) into carefully managed spaces and relationships results in the creation of erotically-charged formations that are intended to afford pleasure to male European spectators. Part II examines the strategies used in Re-Turning the Shadows to disrupt (neo)colonial patterns of viewing that have become ritual and 'naturalized'. Against RMCA narratives that pay homage to the objectivity of science and research, the paintings and film present images that explore multiple subjectivities, mythologizing impulses, and metaphoric allusions. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

Both Temple and Tomb is a dissertation in two parts. The first part is an examination and analysis of a collection of 'colonial' sculptures on permanent display in the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren Belgium. The second part is a reflection on the author's own paintings, drawings and film and an examination of the critical potential of these images in challenging the colonial narratives of the RMCA. Part I presents two arguments. The first is that European aesthetic codes have been used to legitimize the conquest of the Congo and to award sanction to a voyeuristic gaze. The second is that the organization of the sculptures of Africans (and European females) into carefully managed spaces and relationships results in the creation of erotically-charged formations that are intended to afford pleasure to male European spectators. Part II examines the strategies used in Re-Turning the Shadows to disrupt (neo)colonial patterns of viewing that have become ritual and 'naturalized'. Against RMCA narratives that pay homage to the objectivity of science and research, the paintings and film present images that explore multiple subjectivities, mythologizing impulses, and metaphoric allusions. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)