Esme Berman – Doyen of South African Art Criticism

(Author: Natalie Knight, Vol. 68, No. 3, Chanukah 2013)

My first encounter with Esmé Berman was when I was asked to interview her for a Jewish newspaper. Her reputation preceded her – art historian, critic, lecturer broadcaster and the forerunner in the research and documentation of South African art from the 1960s and 70s. The first edition of her definitive publication Art and Artists of South Africa has been referred to as the ‘Bible’ on the topic. To interview the author of a bible seemed like a formidable task.

Esmé’s appearance matched her impeccable credentials. She was perfectly groomed with superb diction and highly articulate. Clearly, she did not suffer fools gladly. Having assessed my lack of experience, she insisted at the end of the interview that I send her the article so she could check it. She phoned me the next day and said that there were several mistakes. Nervously I asked what they were and she replied that I had omitted the accent grave on the second ‘e’ of her name.

“I am sorry”, I said, “and what were the others?”

“You left it off several times” she replied.That was the beginning of a warm and close relationship. Esmé became a role model and mentor.

In 1973, Esmé suffered a devastating loss – her 18 year-old son was killed in a road accident. The following year her husband, Hi Berman, suggested that she take a month’s holiday and go to London and New York.

Esmé phoned and asked me if I would like to join her. My husband, Zamie, immediately agreed and was happy to look after our three young children. We were away for a month – going from museum to museum and also to a few theatres.

In London we met up with one of her close friends, Taubie Kushlick, who invited us to her elegant hotel in Mayfair – a far cry from the London hotel in which we were staying. In New York, Esmé had contacts and for three weeks we stayed in a great hotel overlooking Central Park and near the MOMA Museum of Modern Art.

New York was a life-changing experience. What a way to get a basic art education – at the feet of the master with the best contemporary art in the world. We spent hours and days in the Museum of Modern art. Esmé was generous with her knowledge and opinions on the art and artists.

Her achievements were well known in New York. She made some valuable connections, which included a meeting with Clement Greenberg, the acerbic art critic whom she later invited to South Africa.

But it was more than an art experience. It was an opportunity to connect with the person beneath the persona. It was during this time that I discovered her qualities as a caring wife and mother and saw a dedication and striving for perfection in whatever she did.

I was on the verge of collapse every time I spoke to my husband or children. She was tall, stately and confident and outwardly always in control. She commented on the fact that whenever we got on or off a plane, there was always a strong young man who offered to carry my bags.

“Why does no-one ever offer to help me?” she complained.

“Well Esmé, it’s because you give the vibe that you don’t need any help, while I have perfected the helpless look” I replied.

She was very perceptive and pegged me for a commercial career, stating that she was an academic with no commercial bent. We both remember very clearly an incident when I bought a set of ten Vasarely prints. I negotiated a good price with the seller, phoned Zamie in South Africa and did the deal.

“You are going to open an art gallery,” she prophesied as I explained that I would sell off eight of the prints and keep the two that I wanted as my profit. It took seven years – but she was proved to be right. (The first exhibition at the Natalie Knight Gallery in 1981 was called Whatever Happened to Pop art, featuring Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jim Dine and Richard Hamilton. We served Campbell’s soup and hot dogs and drank a special toast to the inspiration and foresight of Esmé Berman).

In November 1974, Esmé published The Story of South African Painting. In Art and Artists of South Africa she had evaluated individual painters but in this book, she selected representatives of different styles. Through them she told the chronological story of the development of art in South Africa. She also juxtaposed this with international artists and trends. I was now writing for the Star, and in my review of the book commented on the fact that Esmé had illustrated it with art from public collections so that the viewer could relate the original work to the text. The book dealt with the progress of modern art in general, defining and explaining the various ‘isms’ and progressing to Op and Pop art. I was aware of the fact that I had been privileged to share her insights and her erudition in the flesh.

During the intervening years, Esmé had set up the Art Institute (1972-87) – for art education, documentation and publication. She asked me to do some work for her at this time. Her publication The South African Art Market was probably the only time that Esmé, the critic, was severely criticized. We were both very upset at this reaction – but Esmé took it on the chin.

In 1976, Hi Berman was elected as Deputy Mayor of Sandton and as Mayor in 1977-78. Esmé was an elegant and effective Mayoress,

David, the Berman’s elder son, lived in the States. In 1987, Hi and Esmé immigrated to Los Angeles, where Esmé lectured at the Otis-Parsons Institute, and in the Extension Faculty of UCLA. She also lectured at the University of Judaism (on art, not Jewish topics) and from time to time at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and UCLA Art Museum.

She is particularly proud of her privately published book, Breakfast With the Bicycle Club:

That book deals with the remarkable, informal LA group that Hi and I were invited to join on New Year’s Eve 1988. The group had been meeting on the beach every Sunday morning, to cycle, followed by breakfast – since 1969. Imagine: not a formal Club. Just a group of friends – together every Sunday, plus monthly potluck dinners, and trips to various other centres together, FOR 30 YEARS!!

Their individual biographies weave together to reflect the story of 20th Century America and the different backgrounds of its population, including survivors of the Holocaust, children of immigrants, born in Europe, American–born citizens and us. It was a very tightly-knit group. No one could simply tag along.

We were the only South Africans invited – and our link was owing to half-dozen of them being followers of my UCLA lecture courses. All were Jews. We saw the New Millennium in together. Hi and I were involved for 14 years. The group took over a restaurant and threw a marvellous celebratory brunch, with Mexican musicians, for our Golden Wedding in 2002.

Esmé and Hi returned to Johannesburg in 2003 after Hi was diagnosed with a terminal illness. They decided to return to South Africa to be close to their daughter, Kathy. Unfortunately, Hi passed away shortly after their return and Esmé was forced to reboot her life alone.

Esmé and I worked together again when I edited the publication l’Afrique, a tribute to Dr Maria Stein-Lessing, who had been Esmé‘s lecturer at Wits and her mentor.1 Esmé contributed to the publication and gave the opening address at MuseumAfrica in 2008 when the Spiegel/Stein-Lessing Wing of African Art was unveiled.

When we met recently, she recounted some of the memories, major achievements and highlights of her illustrious career. Her life had been enriched though friendships with such artists as Cecil Skotnes and Larry Scully (whom she had known since her Wits days).

A major recent achievement is a two-volume book that Esmé wrote in collaboration with artist /author Karel Nel. Entitled Alexis Preller – A Visual Biography, this was produced to accompany the exhibition curated by Karel Nel of Preller’s vast oeuvre at the Standard Bank Art Gallery. During that exhibition Esmé was indefatigable – and her fascinating lunch time walk-about tours of the exhibition proved that she was on top form. She was able to produce an enlightening and intimate account of the artist’s life and art as she had known the artist so well over many years and also had access to Preller’s personal letters. Her biography of Preller was also published as a single volume. Entitled Africa, the Sun and Shadows(2009), the synopsis describes it as “a story filled with drama, told with empathy and skill. The reader accompanies Alexis Preller through the twists and turns of his uncompromising career and passionate private life, tracing the evolution of his fascinating iconography along the way”.

Now 84, Esmé is struggling physically but refuses to allow this to prevent her from producing yet another series of five short books on selected South Africa artists. In April 2011, the South African Art Times devoted the cover story of its magazine to Esmé Berman. She was called the Grande Dame of South African art – a title which is well deserved.

Natalie Knight is an attorney, art critic and freelance feature writer, who further works as an art consultant, curator of exhibitions and lecturer. She is the author of two books on the Ndebele and has written and produced two plays, Barmy Days and There’s No Sugar Left.

NOTES

1. See Lana Jacobson’s article, ‘L’afrique: A Tribute to Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel’ in the Pesach, 2009 issue of Jewish Affairs.

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