Dumile Feni biography by Sophia Reuss
Zwelidumile Geelboi Mgxaji Mslaba “Dumile” Feni was born on 21 May in the small town of Withuis in Worcester, Cape Province. While his date of birth varies substantially in various sources, from to , Prince Mbusi Dube confirms his birth year as In an interview in Artlook in November with Eachus King, Dumile is described as ‘not know[ing] how old he is.’ Many scholars believe Dumile was decidedly ambiguous as to his age and birth year in order to protect himself against several provisions in apartheid law.
His parents, Geelbooi Magoqwana and Bettie Nothemba Mgxaji, were of Xhosa origin. They named their son Zwelidumile, or “a person known all over the country.” (Dube, ) His father was a policeman, who eventually became a trader and an evangelist. His mother, who died while Dumile was still young, was a gambler who operated an illegal pyramid scheme out of their home in Withuis and insisted on prayers every evening. Shortly after his birth, the family moved from Withuis to Welcome in Cape Town after a series of events regarding Bettie’s pyramid scheme threatened the family’s well being.
As a child, Dumile was encouraged to draw. Even at t
Prof. John Peffer, raises the temperature in his praise, writing that Dumile ‘extended the expressive distortion of the human form to its imaginative limit.’ This practice, it could be argued, began with two seminal works, Stricken Household () and Wash Day Douglas Lane ().These, together with the drawingUntitled (Young boy with arms stretched out), , are key moments in Dumile’s development. The motif of Untitled (Young boy with arms stretched out), of a figure with hands outstretched, would appear in many of his works, sometimes as domestic workers hanging clothes on a line, at other times, as figures in a state of abject crisis. This drawing demonstrates the skill for which Dumile was so venerated. An image with a quality of representation and foreshortening that few of his contemporaries could match.
The importance of these works lies not only in the development of Dumile’s expressive line and distinctive mark-making, but in the themes that would haunt his life: the ravages of apartheid and the indignity of those held in domestic servitude. Stricken Household () is one of the first works where Dumile’s use of line and express
Dumile Feni
(Born 21 May – Died 16 October )
According to Dumile, he had some 30 or more names
This website is the Official Dumile Feni Website set-up and run by the Dumile Feni Family Trust and dedicated in loving memory to the late Marriam Diale, Dumile Feni’s daughter who not only formed the Dumile Feni Family Trust but dedicated herself tirelessly to her father and his works, and whilst doing so put together not only an astonishing archive giving an hitherto fore unknown insight into the Dumile Feni, his family, his life and works, but also the most special collection of Dumile Feni works.
Communicate directly with Dumile Feni Family Trust.
CONTACT
Official website for Dumile Feni and the Dumile Feni Estate.
africanah.org
“After Feni&#;s initial success in Johannesburg, increasing police surveillance and interference made living in South Africa untenable.”
“Dumile Feni played with identities, sometimes challenging and sometimes adopting the expectations placed on the artist outside the canon.”
His work is shown in the MOMO Gallery in Joburg, till September
Fragments from the article:The Dumile Feni Retrospective at the SANG
by Tavish McIntosh
Published on: Artthrob, November
“Dumile Feni was associated with and inspired by many of the leading protagonists of a then new wave of black artistic production that arose during the 60s in South Africa. Although he never received any formal art training, he was exposed to stylistic developments of the European art world through his association with the Polly Street Art Centre. This can be seen in his use of German Expressionist techniques from onwards, as Feni worked to articulate something of the experience of urban living through this highly charged, emotive visual language. Possibly the most dynamic work of this period is done in charcoal and crayon, and Feni mani
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