• BILL AINSLIE, South African artist and cultural catalyst

BILL AINSLIE, South African artist and cultural catalyst

: Ainslie (S.)

R 950.00
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295pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, HallSpace, Dorchester, 2025

ISBN 9798991189132

 

A tribute to the life and work of South African painter and teacher Bill Ainslie that focuses on his painting practice, teaching philosophy, and his enduring legacy as founder of the Johannesburg Art Foundation. Contributors include William Kentridge, Diana Wylie, Hazel Friedman, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Sam Nhlengethwa, David Koloane, Lionel Abrams, Albie Sachs, Marilyn Martin, Mongane Wally Serote, amongst others.

"What this meant was, running an art school open to all people at a time when all formal art institutions were racially restrictive. ..." William Kentridge

William (Bill) Ainslie was born in Bradford, Eastern Cape, in 1934. He obtained an Honours degree in Fine Art from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, then taught art at high school level, spent time abroad, and taught privately. From 1976 onwards, in the oppressive climate of apartheid-era South Africa, he initiated various teaching studios and projects including the Johannesburg Art Foundation, the country's first inclusive studio, as well as FUBA and Thupelo as part of the Triangle Arts trust network. Many of South Africa's leading artists attended these classes and workshops. The Bag Factory Studio, Thupelo and Greatmore Street Studios continue from these initiatives.

As a painter, his work evolved from an early expressionism to colourful, gestural abstraction later in his career. Ainslie was killed in a car accident on his way home from a Pachipamwe Art Workshop at Cyrene Mission in Zimbabwe in 1989.

South African American abstract painter Sophia Ainslie, Bill Ainslie's daughter, began attending her father's classes at the age of four, and eventually shadowed him as he taught. She taught at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, and led drawing workshops at the Gaberone National Museum and the South African Museum in Cape Town. She is currently Teaching Professor in the Department of Art and Design at Northeastern University, USA, and maintains  studio in Somerville, MA.