A Journey Through South African Art: History and Styles

Dec 09, 2025 0

The history of South African art begins with the earliest human attempts to visually represent life and their way of living. From ancient rock paintings to contemporary expressions, South African art reflects a complex interplay of cultural influences, historical events, and social realities. Here’s a look into the diverse history and styles of artwork in South Africa.

San Bushman rock painting in the Drakensberg range of mountains

Rock Art: The Ancient Beginnings

Rock art was the name given to the paintings of the San-bushmen people, who were the first residents of the land. They mixed animal blood with sand, rock and clay and painted their life on the walls of caves they resided in. Most of these paintings were centred around people and the animals they hunted, or weapons they made and tools they used. Over the next 4000 years, a vast body of art on the walls of caves and rock shelters were created throughout SA. The most famous and concentrated depictions are located in the massive Drakensberg range of mountains in KwaZulu-Natal. The figures are dynamic and elongate, and the colours (derived probably from earthen and plant pigments and possibly also from insects) combine ochreous red, white, grey, black, and many warm tones ranging from red through to primary yellow.

Common subjects include hunting, often depicting with great accuracy large animals which no longer inhabit the same region in the modern era, as well as: warfare among humans, dancing, domestic scenes, multiple images of various animals, including giraffes, antelope of many kinds, and snakes. Many of the "dancing" figures are decorated with unusual patterns and may be wearing masks and other festive clothing. Other paintings, depicting patterned quadrilaterals and other symbols, are obscure in their meaning and may be non-representational. Similar symbols are seen in shamanistic art worldwide.

Rock and cave art attributable to the San, some of which is thought to be about 26,000 years old, has been found across much of Southern Africa. The greatest number of paintings, which primarily depict human figures and such animals as elands, elephants, cattle, and horses, have been found in the Drakensberg mountains (part of uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000).

Read also: Meaning in African Print Art

Colonial Influences and the Rise of Nationalist Ideology

During the next century, settlers from various other European countries flocked to the country to farm the fertile land. During this period, art and architecture was heavily influenced by the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and some smaller towns are still home to traditional houses built in such styles. The ‘untamed wilderness’ of South Africa was splashed onto canvases in muted watercolours, and the focus was placed on the landscape rather than inhabitants. During the later years leading up to the 20th century, the British nation, Boer settlers and native tribes were at odds with one another.

This resulted in the formation of Afrikaner nationalist ideology, which in turn influenced the art scene, which was then still heavily based on an “outsider” view of the country. The geometric landscapes of Dutch-born painter JH Pierneef were soon setting the trend for early 1900s art, and the move towards industrialization allowed artists to experiment with metal as a medium for sculpture.

‘An extensive view of farmlands’ by 20th century South African artist Pierneef

Towards the end of the 19th Century artists such as Hugo Naude, Frans Oerder, Jan Volschenk and the sculptor Anton Van Wouw started to establish a locally embedded art that engaged with life in South Africa. By 1902 the primacy of South African art subject matter was seen as the way of fostering a sense of national identity.

Political Art During Apartheid

At the start of the 1900s, South Africa was an emerging ‘gem’ - the diamond and gold mining industry was booming, and the urbanization of workers influenced the direction in which the country’s art was moving. Although art was always a social and political comment on the clime of the country, it became quite important during the apartheid years, which started in the 1950s. The lives of people of colour became the subject of an underground art movement; human subjects were often placed in the background of their mundane environment.

Artists Gerard Sekoto and George Pemba depicted life in Sophiatown and District Six without apology and with bold colour combinations. They showed the humanity of people who were the most vulnerable and susceptible to oppression. During the 1990s, when the liberation movement was at its height, artists expressed their frustration and anger through art with colour, dark imagery and harsh lines. Ultimately, their art showed the deep slash apratheid made in the heart of the country; a festering wound that will never heal.

The Bantu Education Act of 1955 barred Black South Africans from receiving formal art training during the years of apartheid and as a result, the artistic movements that had originated from this community have, until recently, been distinctly classified as “craft” rather than “art.” Informal art centers, that were funded by European states, became one of the few avenues in which Black South Africans could receive some form of artistic development.

After the Soweto Riots of 1976, a new social consciousness emerged that retaliated against the government's policy of segregation and effectively reexamined the classification of certain Black South African artworks. One of the first artistic styles to receive critic attention was Venda sculpting because it aesthetically appealed to white patrons while also maintaining its “artistic manifestations of ethnic diversity.” These sculptures would be considered “transitional art” rather than “craft” and would gain access into fine art galleries.

Art in apartheid in SA

The Next Generation: Post-Apartheid Art

The 21st century was ushered in with a postmodern art scene with controversial topics that explored the previous centuries’ scars. The early 2000s in South Africa represented immense change in the country - local artists were exposed to worldwide art phenomenons and movements that were blocked during the apartheid years, and thus the country’s art scene rapidly expanded. Local artists had more options and muses to base their art on.

Sculptures, pottery, beadwork, ceramics and 3D art was at the forefront of the new century, and was inspired by both African geometry and postmodernism. With an influx of tourism, South African artists chose to celebrate local 'vibes' with bursts of colour and visual drama that transcended the canvas; it could be seen in 3D art, photography and video projects.

Read also: Nigerian Art Styles

The Johannesburg Biennale's Africus (1995) and Trade Routes (1997) had a significant impact on the cultural awareness of new South African art. These events were among the first exhibitions that revealed the “new South African art” to the international community, but also other local South Africans. This gave Black South African artists a new platform to express the effects to which apartheid had influenced society.

In the post-apartheid regime, artists have now been given an apparatus to protest social issues such as inequality, sexuality, state control over the personal realm, and HIV/AIDS. However, the emphasis to embody many of these social issues within Black South African art has a led to a stereotype that many young artists are now trying to escape.

Contemporary Art and its Global Relevance

The contemporary art scene in South Africa is as diverse and vibrant as the population and vast cultures in the country. Contemporary artists in South Africa have adopted new media technologies to produce varied and creative bodies of work, as seen in the work of Dineo Seshee Bopape and CUSS Group. Their art gives insight into the pressing issues of South African society. On a global scale, contemporary South African art is relevant and sought after.

‘The Butcher Boys’ by Jane Alexander

Traditional African Art: A Summary

The histories and lineages of African art are as diverse as the communities and cultures that traverse the continent. From the ornate cave paintings of South Africa's Cederberg Mountains to the abstract masks of myriad regional traditions, African art incorporates an extraordinary array of objects, materials, media, and themes. One striking aspect of African painting, pottery, and sculpture to Western viewers might be its marked difference from historical works produced in the European Renaissance tradition, with their emphasis on vanishing-point perspective and a form of naturalistic representation.

Equally, traditional African art should be explored on its own terms and for the themes and motifs that unite much of it: for example, the production of objects and costumes for religious and ritual purposes. Amongst the best-known examples of traditional African art are the striking masks produced by many cultures across the continent: from the Zamble masks of the Guro culture (located in present-day Ivory Coast), to Yoruba, Lulua, and Goma facial adornments - created by communities in Nigeria, Congo, and Tanzania. These masks often had a precise religious or ritual function, seen to take on magical properties in the context of a particular rite or event.

They also had an incalculable impact on the development of modern art in Europe during the early 20th century, with Cubists such as Pablo Picasso deeply moved and influenced by their animated abstraction. Traditional African art shares marked characteristics, in spite of its geographical differences. For example, many African sculptures are united by their intended function as talismans or vessels for communicating with the dead ancestors during religious events. As such, many works remind us of the close relationship between art and spirituality throughout human history; the fact that centuries-old traditions have survived in many African cultures gives us a vital window on the origins of human creativity.

Pottery is a key form for many African artistic cultures. Jugs and vessels were often created with a utilitarian or domestic function in mind, yet also with great attention to visual beauty and detail. The case of African pottery indicates the less rigorous boundary placed between fine art and practical craftsmanship than in the Western tradition. In fact, this approach mirrored twentieth-century Western movements such as Constructivism, again indicating the ways in which traditional African art predicts and preempts Western equivalents.

African art cannot be considered today apart from the controversies concerning its location in museums and galleries across the West. Works such as the Benin Bronzes - which the Nigerian government has repeatedly petitioned to have returned - were plundered by colonial empires and often sold on, hence their dispersal across Europe and North America. They therefore stand as markers of a global debate concerning the need for compensation and reparation following the violent subjugation of African societies by European states.

The traditions of African art are rich in their variety of objects, materials, and media, including sculpture, pottery, metalwork, painting, and textiles. While artworks differ depending on geographical area, historically African art has shared some underlying characteristics - including the fact that, unlike in the Western world, objects are often created for religious, ritual, or practical functions.

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba

Examples of Traditional African Art

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba (16th century)

This artwork is one of a pair of African ivory masks featuring the face of a woman from the African country of Benin. The pendant mask is believed to have been produced for the king of Benin, to honor his mother, Idia. The oba may have worn it at rites commemorating his mother, although today such pendants are worn at annual ceremonies of spiritual renewal and purification. The details of this sculptural work are highly significant to its symbolic and communal meaning. Features like those described show the power of much historical African art to make visual statements about influences on a particular culture or community.

Military Leader (Early 16th century)

This small relief plaque, measuring little more than a foot high and a foot wide, features a warrior dressed in full armor with spear in one hand and shield in the other. This work is one of thousands of plaques known as the Benin Bronzes, carved in brass by artists from the Benin Kingdom - part of modern-day Nigeria - several centuries ago. These pieces show the role that art can play in communicating a political statement or as a vehicle for propaganda. The Benin people were known for their military might and relief sculptures like this were used to reinforce the impression of this power to friend and foe by depicting warriors and leading military figures alongside the king, his family, and his attendants.

Female Figure (19th century)

This wooden sculpture depicts a female with an elongated neck, a frontal gaze, and arms bent at 90 degree angles resting formally at her side. This statue was produced by an artist who belonged to the Bena Lulua people in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. The figurative sculptural tradition of this region is diverse in that it features both women and men and distinguishes between citizens, rulers, and warriors. However, all Lulua sculptures tend to bear several important features in common, allowing them to be identified clearly as products of their time, place, and culture. The figurines of the Bena Lulua are highly distinctive. They show elaborate scarifications and usually have the navel emphasized presumably because it represents the physical link to the ancestors.

Zamble Helmet Crest Mask (Early 20th century)

This mask is typical of the style of the Guro culture of the Ivory Coast. With its elongated nose and large eyes, its other key distinguishing feature are the striped horns protruding from its forehead. The Guro people shape this type of mask to resemble a mythical creature called the Zamble which is a mysterious being which resembles a beautiful, strong, young man. With its strong association with death, this mask indicates the importance of the spiritual world to the Guro people. Works such as this mask show the vital role that much African art plays in ceremonies and religious events.