Samuele Makoanyane: Reconsidering Ceramics Technology and Connoisseurship in Early Modern Southern African Ceramics

Abstract

This article explores ceramics production in the Modern period in South Africa and Lesotho via a contemporary reinterpretation of the oeuvre of the pioneer Mosotho sculptor Samuele Makoanyane (1909–1944). The research methodology includes a critical examination of images of works by Makoanyane in South African public collections, a literature survey of Modern South African and African ceramic sculptural traditions, as well as a detailed scrutiny of two key texts. The first is a booklet by Makoanyane’s agent, C. G. Damant. The second is a report by the artist, curator, teacher, and development consultant Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz. A critical examination of these texts and images is synthesised with my knowledge of ceramics technology, production techniques, and professional studio practices. The resultant article opens up a new framework for understanding Makoanyane’s oeuvre, and aims to engage with Modernist tropes and historiographies concerning connoisseurship via three hypotheses. The hypotheses centre around the operation of a professional workshop in which assistants were employed and serial reproduction technology was used. These hypotheses open up new possibilities for understanding and re-evaluating the oeuvre of Makoanyane and other similarly neglected early Modern artists. They are a means to augmenting and enriching knowledge of art, craft, and design history in South Africa, and beyond.