The Brenthurst Collection of Southern African Art
Reflecting on Aesthetics of African Artefacts
The Brenthurst Collection of Southern African Art was collected during the 1970s and 1980s by Jonathan Lowen, a South African-born lawyer living in London. The collection was later purchased by Harry Oppenheimer and repatriated to South Africa in the mid-1980s. It was loaned to the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), where it formed part of a major exhibition titled Art and Ambiguity in 1991.
The collection was housed at JAG for many years until it moved to The Brenthurst Library in April 2023.
REVD CHARLES HENRY JOBERNS
A CLERICAL JOURNEY
Revd Joberns, an Anglican clergyman, travelled from England to the Cape of Good Hope to fulfil his duties as warden of St George’s Home & as chaplain to the Bishop of Cape Town from 1874 to 1877. He painted these watercolours to document his diocesan travels around the Cape colony. The paintings depict beautiful natural landscapes, but they also demonstrate the arduous nature of these journeys in navigating the rough terrain to reach small remote towns.
Past Exhibitions
WOMEN
Resistance & Rights
AFRICAN BIRDS
THE 1922 RAND REBELLION
BOTANICAL ART
CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH
African hoofed animals
ZULU WARS
ELLAPHIE WARD-HILHORST
Botanical artist
THOMAS BOWLER
Artist at the Cape
THE FOUNDING OF JOHANNESBURG
CONSTANCE STUART LARRABEE
1914–2000
MAJOR A B CREE
British Regiments in South Africa 1795–1902
