Dear Shaded Viewers,
Jürgen Schadeberg is considered the father of South African photography, a major figure in the documentary movement, and photo director of the only magazine at the time for Black South Africans, Drum, from 1951 to 1959, Jürgen Schadeberg’s contribution is considerable both aesthetically and socio-politically. At the time, he was one of few whites to work among black communities and to unambiguously espouse their cause. One could say that all his life, Jürgen Schadeberg focused his lens on social justice issues. Born in Berlin in 1931, Schadeberg grew up in Nazi Germany, emigrated to South Africa at the age of 18 (to join his mother and her British soldier husband) only to arrive at the moment when apartheid was established. Right: ‘Hamburg Handstand, 1948’
Famous for his portraits of Nelson Mandela, of whom he was a faithful companion, and for his mischievous and glamorous way of documenting the South African jazz scene of the 1950s, his sensitive and humanistic eye, and his appetite for difficult terrain, naturally lead him to the margins, to communities that are often invisible and suffering. Jürgen Schadeberg’s work is part of history, at one with it in its darkest and most optimistic hours.
The beauty of Schadeberg’s images lies as much in the circumstances of the shooting, in his way of cutting through reality, as in his mastery of printing, in which he excelled. When Schadeberg photographs the lives of those left behind, the light always comes to soften adversity and precariousness. It does not illuminate them. Thus, in the series he dedicated in 2004-2005 to the evicted inhabitants and squatters of Johannesburg, he flirted with Caravaggio, and Mr Superior became a real model for the photographer in this improvised studio. Intimate scenes, close framing, the play of glances and mirrors, delicate chiaroscuro, the grain of the images, slight plunges and counter-plunges, everything in Jurgen Schadeberg’s art contributes to highlighting his models without ever circumscribing them to their simple misfortune.
Resolutely poetic and subjective, Jürgen Schadeberg’s work is now part of prestigious collections, including those of La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, the BnF and the Fnac in France, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Tate and the Arts Council in the United Kingdom, the Daimler Chrysler Collection in Berlin, and numerous South African institutions.
BONNE ESPÉRANCE GALLERY is an invitation to discover the creative exhuberance of South Africa. Contact:
Scott Billy
Bonne Espérance Gallery
3 rue notre dame de bonne nouvelle 75002 Paris Tel. +33630115467
scottpaulbilly@gmail.com www.bonne-esperance-gallery.com
