A Vigil of Departure: Louis Khehla Maqhubela—His Life and Work (1960-2010)

This article, based on the catalogue of his 2010-11 retrospective exhibition, assesses Louis Khehla Maqhubela's contribution to South African art. Born in Durban in 1939, Maqhubela also lived in Soweto and studied at Johannesburg's Polly Street Art Centre. By winning the overall Artist of Fame and Promise Award in 1966, he became the first to cross the divide between black and white artists. The three months spent abroad as part of that prize enabled him to break out of the conventions of "township art," and further change and new artistic directions followed his emigration first to Ibiza, then to London.