Iziko Museums of South Africa is pleased to announce “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting”: Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective, is opening on 17 February 2024. Curated by Nontobeko Ntombela, the exhibition highlights Dr Esther Mahlangu’s over 50-year long career and her meteoric rise as a contemporary artist, earning her global acclaim. The monumental retrospective will be open to the public at the Iziko South African National Gallery from 18 February until 14 August 2024. From there it will then begin its global tour, stopping first at Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, before moving to the United States in early 2026. The Melrose Gallery, Esther Mahlangu’s global representative, was tasked with implementation of the Retrospective Exhibition.
Through the language of colour and form, the exhibition charts Mahlangu’s contribution to contemporary art close to seven decades. More than 100 artworks have been loaned from international collections, carefully curated alongside historic photographs and a short film. Also included in the exhibition is Mahlangu’s BMW 525i Art Car which makes its historic return to South Africa for the first time in more than 30 years. Mahlangu became the first woman and first African to be invited to participate in the prestigious BMW Art Car Collection in 1991. This diverse collection from Mahlangu’s expansive oeuvre which features in “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting”: Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective, will offer a comprehensive yet intimate insight into her vast and vibrant career.
Trained by her grandmother and mother
Recounting how her artistic journey began, Esther Mahlangu often tells the story of being trained by her grandmother and mother in the early 1940s, saying: “I would continue to paint on the house when they left for a break. When they came back, they would say: ‘What have you done, child? Never do that again!’ After that, I started drawing on the back of the house, and slowly my drawings got better and better until they finally asked me to come back to the front of the house. Then I knew I was good at painting.” The retrospective exhibition draws its inspiration from Esther Mahlangu’s remarkable story of how she discovered her extraordinary artistic talent as a young girl of just 10 years old. It is in this self-assertive stance that the retrospective exhibition is framed, which is conveyed through her own voice and self-positioning.
“Painting has always been a part of me. I cannot separate it from myself, and neither would I want to. I look forward to sharing my practice and long and colourful story with you on my upcoming Retrospective Exhibition,” says Dr Esther Mahlangu.
The retrospective is a landmark achievement for South African art. It recognises Mahlangu as one of the few South African artists who have had the opportunity to present a Retrospective Exhibition in world-renowned museums. Transcending the boundaries of canvas and mural, Mahlangu’s work displays an inimitable fluency across diverse mediums, from small, treasured keepsakes to vast public installations and murals.
What: “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting”: Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective
Where: Iziko South African National Gallery from 18 February until 14 August 2024
WS
