Heritage Cases

The applicant David Brodie lodges this Permit Application on behalf of the owner African Sky Trust, for the permanent export of 1 painting by Ernest Mancoba (1904 -2002), titled 'Composition' (1951) for acquisition consideration by The Art Institute of Chicago, United States of America. Born in 1904 in Boksburg, Ernest Mancoba left South Africa for Paris in 1938, where he studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs. During World War II he was interned by the Germans in St Denis in 1940 where he met his future wife Danish artist Sonja Ferlov - they married in 1942. After their release in 1947 Ernest and Sonja settled in Denmark where they became members of the newly founded CoBrA group of abstract artists (CoBrA is an abbreviation of COpenhagen, BRussels, Amsterdam), and Mancoba exhibited with this legendary group between 1948 and 1950. Key members of the COBRA group included Karel Appel, Asger Jorn and Constant Nieuwenhuys. In 1952 Mancoba and Ferlov returned to live in France with their young son, Wonga, and were together until Sonja's death in 1984. Mancoba died in Paris in 2002. The majority of Mancoba’s career and acknowledgement of his postion within international art history has occurred outside of South Africa, chiefly amongst curators and institutions with an interest in the CoBrA movement. While Mancoba’s work has been included on a handful of shows in European museums over the last decades, the first significant show of his work in South Africa was in 1994, curated by Elza Miles. Mancoba attended the opening at Johannesburg Art Gallery – the first time the artist had returned to South Africa since leaving in 1938. 'Composition' (1951) was not included on this show. The acquisition of 'Composition' (1951) for The Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection would be a significant move towards raising both public and academic awareness of Mancoba's work and the place it has within international art history, which thus far is still somewhat peripheral. The Art Institute of Chicago is recognised as one of the leading encyclopaedic museums in the world. The museum has visitor figures of around 1.7 million per annum. 'Composition' was painted by the artist in Denmark, 1951. It was acquired thereafter by Dr. Karel van Stuijvenberg, an art collector based in Venezuela with a renowned collection of CoBrA works. 'Composition' (1951) was first imported into South African in 2003. It was acquired by The African Sky Trust from the Venezuelan collection above, with Stevenson/Galerie Mikael Andersen as the agents. The painting is required to be in The United States of America by late-February 2020 in order to be presented to the Modern and Contemporary Acquisitions Advisory Committee at The Art Institute in March 2020 for their approval. Should the work not be accepted into the permanent collection it would then return to South Africa. Exhibition provenance and key dates for 'Composition' (1951): 1951 - Artwork is made in artist’s studio, Denmark Artwork acquired by the collection of Dr. Karel van Stuijvenberg, Venezuela Exhibitions featuring 'Composition' (1951): Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain, Liége, Belgium, 1951 Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela, 1984 Malmö Konsthall, Sweden, 1986 Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, 1987 Brandts Klœdefabriek, Denmark, 1988 “Cobra 40 jaar later”, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, 1988 Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Amstelveen, 1996 2003 - Artwork enters South Africa, acquired by The African Sky Trust Exhibitions since 2003: - In the name of all Humanity, the African Spiritual Expression of Ernest Mancoba, Gold of Africa Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, 2006 - Postwar, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, 2016 - Ernest Mancoba, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2019