David GoldblattOn the Mines
To celebrate the publication of On the Mines, a new edition of the acclaimed 1973 book by David Goldblatt, Goodman Gallery Johannesburg is to exhibit a selection of works from the book, and is pleased to host the South African launch of the new version published by Steidl of Germany, noted publisher of books on fine art and photography.
Now in an expanded and redesigned version, the volume is true to the format of the first issue, featuring the original essay by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, and with the images divided into three chapters, namely The Witwatersrand: a Time and Tailings, Shaftsinking, and Mining Men.
The photographer has now added a text of his own in which he reflects on his childhood in Randfontein, as well as the 1973 publication. Goldblatt and Gordimer collaborated to examine the human and political dimensions of mining in South Africa, and the photographs which are the basis of the book cover a period from the mid-sixties onward.
There are now thirty one new, previously unpublished, photographs, including colour images, while eleven pictures from the first edition have been removed. This is to be the first of a planned series of collaborations between David Goldblatt and Steidl to publish both reprints and new books on his work.
The exhibition and book launch are of particular significance at this time in the history of South Africa and its mines. The photographer will be present at the opening of the exhibition, to take part in a public conversation on his work with writer Sean O’Toole, and to sign copies of the new book.
Artworks
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Artist Bio
David Goldblatt (1930 – 2018) was born in Randfontein, a small mining town outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. Described by writer Mark Gevisser as ‘the visual conscience of South Africa,’ he photographed the structures, people and landscapes of South Africa for over seven decades. His work is contained in a number of books, including Some Afrikaners Photographed, On the Mines, Intersections, The Transported of Kwandebele, In Boksburg, Structures of things then, Fragments of Fietas and Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime. Describing his work, he said, “I was drawn not to the events of the time, but to the quiet and commonplace where nothing ‘happened’ and yet all was contained and imminent”.
Goldblatt’s work has been exhibited widely around the world. Key exhibitions include Structures of Dominion and Democracy (2018) at Centre Pompidou, Paris; No Ulterior Motive (2022- 2025), a collaboration between the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven and Foundation Mafpre, Madrid; David Goldblatt: 51 years (2002 - 2004) organized by MACBA, Barcelona and exhibited at Witte de With, Rotterdam; Modern Art, Oxford; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Lenbachhaus, Munich, and the Bensusan Museum and Library of Photography, Johannesburg; Intersections Intersected (2008 -2011), organized by Stevenson Gallery and exhibited at Open eye Gallery, Liverpool, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Malmo Konsthall and the University Museum of Contemporary Art, Amherst. Museums where he has had solo shows include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris; Huis Marseilles, Amsterdam; Serralves Foundation, Porto; the Norval Foundation, Cape Town; South African National Gallery, Cape Town and Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Notable group exhibitions and biennales include ILLUMInations at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, South Africa in Apartheid and After, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2013); and Everything Was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s, Barbican Centre, London (2012). York.
Galleries where he has exhibited include Pace and Howard Greenberg, New York; Marion Goodman, Paris, Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid and Stevenson, Cape Town. He has been represented by Goodman Gallery since 2000 and has held numerous exhibitions at its Johannesburg, London and Cape Town galleries.
Selected collections include: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The J. Paul Getty; Museum, Los Angeles; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany and New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton; Musée del’Élysée, Lausanne; Carnegie
Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Goldblatt was the recipient of the 2006 Hasselblad award, the 2009 Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, the 2013 ICP Infinity Award and in 2016, he was awarded the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France.
