JÜRGEN SCHADEBERG
(18.03.1931 –
29.08.2020)
Jürgen Schadeberg is often considered the father of South African photography. Mr. Schadeberg was born in Berlin, grew up under the Nazi regime, and emigrated to South Africa as a teenager. He arrived in South Africa at a pivotal time in the country's history - the flowering of Black culture at the same time as Apartheid was being introduced. He worked for Drum Magazine, the only publication for Black South Africans at the time. He took some of South Africa's most iconic photographs of the time. Due to growing unrest in South Africa, Mr. Schadeberg moved to Great Britain in the 1960s. Rather than focusing on London's Swinging 1960s scene, most of Mr. Schadeberg's work during this period focused on the human condition and the dramatic consequences of crisis and social change for the often vulnerable and disenfranchised people of the North of England. When the apartheid regime began to collapse in the 1980s, he returned to South Africa, returning to the promise of democracy but also to a country deeply scarred by inequality, poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Throughout his long career, the artist demonstrated a keen sense of lighting, composition, the ability to find the right subject at the right time, and a commitment to social justice. Works by Mr. Schadeberg are part of the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert in London.
