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South African art, the romantic principle and the Grahamstown group

The purpose of this essay is to examine the "rumblings in the belly of Leviathan from which we are able to diagnose his disease" (Comfort). Adopting a cyclical idea of art, it aims to point out that South African art has degenerated to a state where the much publicised so-called leaders of art are simply using charm techniques to woo the consent of a society whose metaphysics are derived from twentieth century collective materialism. The South African situation is examined, as is the Romantic principle underlying all genuine artistic activity. It is proposed that the cure lies in a reinstatement of this principle and in a readjustment of the concepts of reality and unreality. Finally, the Grahamstown Group is propounded as an embodiment of the Romantic principle with its implicit concept of artistic reality.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:2501
Date January 1977
CreatorsClark, George Phillip Haven
PublisherRhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MFA
Format76 leaves, pdf
RightsClark, George Phillip Haven

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