Lot Essay
David Goldblatt's photographic documents are a detailed and comprehensive investigation of the tensions and fictions of life in both urban and rural South Africa, which constitute a remarkable testimony to contemporary African society. His retrospective exhibition, David Goldblatt 51 Years, was shown in New York, Barcelona, Lisbon, Oxford, Brussels, Munich, Johannesburg, and Rotterdam in 2003. His photographic essay South Africa: the Structure of Things Then was shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1998. His work was included in Documenta 11 in 2002, Documenta 12 in 2007, and in the travelling exhibition Africa Remix (2004-2007). His limited edition book, Particulars, won the award for the best photography book at the Rencontres d'Arles festival, France, in 2004. Goldblatt won the Hasselblad Foundation International Award for Photography in 2006. In 2003 Witte de With presented the retrospective David Goldblatt, 51 years, which was put together by freelance curator Corinne Diserens and Okwui Enwezor, artistic director of Documenta 11. Among others, Goldblatt's photographs are in the collections of the South African National Gallery, Cape Town; the Bibliothque Nationale, Paris; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.