David Goldblatt
1930–2018 · South Africa
Reading social structures in everyday details.
The story
David Goldblatt photographed South Africa during apartheid and after its end. He focused on people, places, buildings and the material signs of a deeply unequal society. His bodies of work combine precise observation with often extensive captions. Spectacular events were not his only subject: a posture, a road or a monument could reveal enduring political relationships.
Understanding the work
Read the detail and then the caption. Gestures and built forms gain meaning when we understand who lives in, owns or uses the places.
Key works and series
Some Afrikaners Photographed; In Boksburg; Particulars; The Structure of Things Then.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
- MoMA · 11 October 1984
Mother and Child in Their Home after the Destruction of Its Shelter by Officials of the Western Cape Development Board, Crossroads, Cape Town
Gelatin silver print
- MoMA · April 10,1993
Monument to Karel Landman, Voortrekker Leader, De Kol, Eastern Cape
Gelatin silver print
- MoMA · February 12, 2005
Monument Honouring the 'Contribution of the Horse to South African History,' Erected by the Rapportryers of Bethulie in 1982. Laura Rautenbach was the Sculptor., After the Theft of Bronze Oxen from a Voortrekker Monument in the Town, the Rapportryers Caged the Horse in Steel in 2004. Bethulie, Free State
Inkjet print
