Cecil Skotnes: ’n Man met ’n visie

Sakkie is nie baie slim wanneer dit kom by die beeldende kuns nie. Ek lees egter graag daaroor en ons besit ’n aantal baie mooi stukke deur verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars.

As ander egter goed skryf wat ek kan verstaan, deel ek dit graag. Ek wil vir julle verwys na twee totaal verskillende berigte oor Cecil Skotnes wat die ander dag oorlede is.

Die eerste, en moenie te gou kwaad word nie, is van Sandile Memela wat ’n taamlike negatiewe stuk skryf oor die manier waarop Skotnes se groot bydrae rakende interkulturele kommunikasie misken is tydens sy (Skotnes) se gedenkdiens.

Memela is ’n angry young man, as hý dus die volgende sê, dan luister ek:

Something in me dies, a piece of me dies every time I attend the memorial service of a greatly misunderstood artist. It would seem that the event, which should place the life of the dearly departed into perspective, is an excuse to deny the role he played as an agent of change in this country. (…) For God’s sake, the man was a pioneer who played a pivotal role in awakening the self-consciousness of African artists and opened opportunities for them. But his memorial descended into a cold, calculated and self-serving forum that upheld and promoted whiteness. One is not denying that he was born, lived and died in a white world. That, in itself, is not a sin. But this was a creative artist who ventured beyond this cocoon to broaden the network of blacks and whites to dream, work and live together.

As iemand eendag so iets oor mý sou sê, sou ek baie dankbaar wees – veral as dit kom van iemand wat geensins probeer om die whiteys te beïndruk nie. Lees gerus verder, maar moenie van Matthew Krouse se stuk vergeet nie.

Krouse skryf oor hierdie einste visie van Skotnes:

He and fellow artist Eduardo Villa (89) were the last survivors of the Amadlozi group, established in 1963 with Sydney Khumalo, Cecily Sash and Guisseppo Cattaneo. In 1952 Skotnes became cultural recreation officer for the city of Johannesburg, based at the Polly Street Art Centre where he would tutor and influence a generation of black artists from Lucky Sibiya to Ezrom Legae.

Krouse sê ook:

In 2003 Skotnes was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold for "exceptional achievement in the deracialisation of the arts and for outstanding contribution to the development of black artists".