Art centre renamed after Peter Clarke
IN September this year, the 73 year old Frank Joubert Art Centre will be renamed the Peter Clarke Art Centre. The late Clarke is one of South Africa’s best loved artists and an internationally acclaimed writer and poet. Clarke “is best known for his graphic prints, particularly his woodcuts” in which he depicted “the social and political experiences of ordinary South Africans”.
His influences include the German Expressionists and Japanese woodcuts. He was also interested in the Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros.
The renaming of streets and places in South Africa to reflect their origins — as a rejection of an oppressive past — is part of a post liberation drive to reclaim a previously denied heritage. In Cape Town for example Eastern Boulevard became the Nelson Mandela Boulevard and the concourse between the Artscape theatre and the Civic Centre was renamed after Albert Luthuli. Although some people believe that you should keep your enemies close (but contextualise their commemoration) to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
But the renaming of the Frank Joubert Art Centre isn’t about redressing the wrongs of the past. Instead this renaming is about honouring an exceptional artist and person, Peter Clarke. “We love Frank,” said the centre’s principal, Liesl Hartman. “It’s just that his time has come and gone.” The renaming was a democratic one with input from staff and former pupils. But the broader community were not involved until Clarke’s family and his close friend, artist Lionel Davis, were approached and endorsed the change.
In fact, next year students from the centre will be creating a memorial in Frank’s honour in the centre’s grounds. Captain Frank Joubert, a World War II veteran, understood and believed in the healing capacity of art. He put his money where his mouth was and invested money in the centre to create a space for war veterans and young children to be creative in.
Clarke who believed strongly in education offered classes at the Ocean View library near where he lived. He had close associations with the centre and was also involved in extra mural classes there. His donated work is displayed in the centre’s library and principal’s office and are used as reference or to form part of student exhibitions. And his work forms part of the grade 12 National Visual Arts Theory syllabus under the section Emerging Artists.
Hartman pointed out that Clarke’s most important lesson to students who wanted to be artists was that you need to be determined, to see it through.
When he was an artist in residence at the centre, staff recall students traipsing upstairs to his studio to chat. Simphiwe Nzube winner of last year’s Michaelis School of Art prize recognised Clarke as a mentor. Nzube’s work Raft — a play on Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa — is currently on exhibit at the Iziko National Gallery.
Clarke had a kind of purity or a clarity normally associated with the monk archetype coupled with a wonderfully wicked, dry sense of humour. He came across as a slightly reserved but compassionate being and a sharp observer of people.
He was always snappily dressed and liked a glass of red wine. Hartman particularly remembered his generosity. “If you admired a work of his he would give it to you,” she said. What she loved about him is that he quietly got on with it.
And what better endorsement than from the students you taught. Past student and top designer whose work featured in last year’s Design Indaba, Akeem Ngwenya, said this about Clarke.
“I spent a lot of time with Mr Clarke, as I watched him work. There is a gentleness, peace and serenity about him. He works slowly and delicately. His work and actions display his compassion towards his fellow man.”
021 683 2720