A Life's Work: James Oliver Hall (30.09.1916 - 29.04.2006) at the Durban Art Gallery
by Elizabeth Perrill
Walking into the James O. Hall exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery, one realizes that not just the work, but snapshots of this multi-talented man's life and times are presented for the viewer to piece together. A full-sized image of Hall greets visitors to the space. Tools suspended and displayed in vitrines to one's left - trimming tools, throwing sticks, scales, calipers, molds, even the artist's lab-coat - imply the precision with which Hall approached the ceramic medium. Yet, this scientific accuracy is contrasted with the sensitivity and humour captured in sketches Hall produced as a World War II caricature artist.
Only after passing through these more biographical sections does Hall's diverse ceramic creativity become apparent to exhibition visitors. Students and admirers of architecture, graphic design and ceramics alike should peruse the banners displaying the following categories of Hall's production: Tile and Tile Panels, Lettering, Stained Glass, Enamel and Fiberglass, Relief Panels and Murals, Crests, Public Sculpture. Students will realize that several of Hall's abstracted texts and signatures, like contemporary graffiti scripts, reveal themselves with prolonged viewing. Likewise, as contemporary South African architects seek ways to capture the diversity of South Africa, Hall expressed his interpretation of the modernist period in artistic and architectural history.
Like his caricatures, Hall's production provides a quick sketch of the abstraction that was so pervasive during the 1950s and 1960s. Something that this small exhibition has neither the space nor the resources to demonstrate is how Hall's work is historically situated. Hailing originally from New Zealand, Hall's fascination with modernism came, at least to some degree, out of the Slade School of Art, London, where he attended from 1946 - 49. A network of artists moving back and forth between London and many commonwealth countries reinterpreted and reinvented the Slade School style of the late-40s and early-50s, throughout Africa. Famous African artists who also attended the Slade School include Ben Enwonwu from Nigeria (1946 - 48) and Sam Ntiro from Tanzania (then Tanganyika) (1952 - 54). Both Enwonwu and Ntiro, as well as Kofi Antubam of Ghana who was at Goldsmith's College, London (1948 - 50), went on to develop their nations' artistic legacies.
Visitors to the exhibition should keep an eye out for the small equestrian figure in the vitrine at the far end of the exhibition. It is not labeled as such, but this 38 x 34cm work was collected by Jill Addleson in 1965 through the Institute for Race Relations (now the African Art Centre). It was, in fact, the first piece of ceramic art created in South Africa to be added to the Durban Art Gallery's permanent collection. I was pleased to see the full spectrum of Hall's portraiture, functional wares and industrial production on display. Although his industrially produced tiles appear somewhat unassuming lining the periphery of the exhibition space, these works still contribute to KwaZulu-Natal's urban façades.
I would encourage visitors to take their experience of this exhibition, mental images of his tiles and sculpture, out into the streets of KwaZulu-Natal. At some of the locations listed below, in Durban and Pietermartizburg, Hall's public works are part of a legacy that ties this province to a greater history of art and architecture:
23rd Psalm Panel, Jewish Hall of Prayer, Redhill Cemetery, Durban
Madonna, Holy Trinity Church, Durban
Panel, Blue Waters Hotel, Durban
'Sea Saga' and 'Neptune', Ocean Terminal, Durban
Stellenberg Building, Musgrave, Durban
Frieze Panelling, corner of Moore and Sydney Roads, Durban
'Youth' panel, Natalia Building, Pietermaritzburg
Panel, Public Library, Pietermaritzburg
Elizabeth Perrill is a PhD Candidate from Indiana University and a Fulbright Scholar currently conducting fieldwork on Zulu Ceramics, KwaZulu-Natal
Opened: March 21
Closes: May 15
Durban Art Gallery
2nd Floor City Hall, Smith Street, Durban
Tel: (031) 311 2264
Fax: (031) 311 2273
Email: strettonj@durban.gov.za
Hours: Mon - Sat 8.30am - 4pm, Sun 11am - 4pm
