Esther Mahlangu

Esther Mahlangu (born 11 November 1935) is a South African artist.

She is known for her bold large-scale contemporary paintings that reference her Ndebele heritage.

She is one of South Africa's best known artists.

Esther Nikwambi Mahlangu was born on 11 November 1935 in a farm located outside of Middelburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa, and belongs to the South Ndebele people.

Mahlangu began painting at 10 years of age, and was taught the skill of mural painting by her mother and grandmother, following a tradition of the South Ndebele people for females to paint the exterior of houses.

It is in this cultural tradition where Mahlangu first began her artistic journey.

She had eight younger siblings, which was made up of six boys and three girls (including her).

She and her husband had three sons.

Later on, she lost her husband and two out of her three sons.

She was an employee at the Botshabelo Museum before becoming an artist.

Mahlangu's art references patterns found in clothing and jewellery of the Ndebele people.

The patterns she uses are typically very colourful and geometric.

Her paintings are large in scale.

Esther Mahlangu used brushes made from chicken feathers.

She is known for translating and substituting the traditional surfaces for Ndebele mural art, adobe cow-dung wall, with canvas, and eventually, metal alloys.

Mahlangu’s signature pattern of white bounded lines set diagonally or shaped like chevrons.

She signs all of her beadwork in beads with the initials “E M”.

As an artist, her “...composition is more compact, more engaging and complex than that of her contemporaries, the borders more complicated.

She has a tendency to frame her pattern motifs.”

Between 1980 and 1991 she was a resident at the Botshabelo Historical Village open-air museum, which presents and educates the visitors about the Ndebele culture.

Mahlangu first gained international attention in 1989 at a French art exposition titled Magiciens de la terre (Magicians of the World).

Later in 1991, she was commissioned by BMW to create an art car, as other BMW Art Car creators had done before (including Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Frank Stella).

The car, a BMW 525i, was the first "African Art Car" and was painted with typical Ndebele motifs.

The car was later exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC in 1994.

Ndebele designs were also reproduced in 1997 on the tails of British Airways planes and more recently the same technique was used by the artist to paint on the new Fiat 500 on the occasion of the exhibition "Why Africa?"

(2007, Turin).

Mahlangu is one of the African artists whose art is often exhibited internationally.

Her works are in major private collections including that of The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi and in many Western museums.

Despite being an internationally recognized artist, Esther Mahlangu still presently lives in her village in close and constant contact with her culture.

Mahlangu follows a local tradition through which this particular type of painting technique is handed down in the family, communicated, learned and transmitted only by women (in the past).

These paintings are closely connected with the tradition of decorating the houses on the occasion of the rite of passage for boys.

Between 18 and 20 years of age, the youth of the tribe go to "a school of circumcision", the ritual that confirm their passage to adulthood.

To celebrate this event the women completely repaint the inside and the outside of their houses with a preparation of cow dung and natural pigments.

Brightly coloured acrylic paints are also applied in designs outlined by black lines.

Although seemingly simple, the geometric abstraction that is revealed by these paintings is underscored by the constant repetition and symmetry of such simple shapes that make the whole work quite complex.

The art of Esther Mahlangu highlights the tension between local and global, between the anchor and detachment.

Despite continuing to use the same "artistic vocabulary" closely tied to her traditions, Mahlangu has applied the designs to various objects including canvas, sculpture, ceramics and automobiles.

She has also collaborated with various brands like BMW, Fiat, EYTYS, Melissa's, Beleverde, the British Museum and Rolls-Royce.

Esther Mahlangu's 1991 BMW Artcar was on view at the British Museum as part of 'South Africa: the art of a nation', from 27 October 2016 - 27 February 2017.

It was also exhibited at the British Museum, London in 2017.