David Goldblatt facts for kids

David Goldblatt (born 29 November 1930 – died 25 June 2018) was a famous South African photographer. He was known for his pictures of South Africa during a time called apartheid. Apartheid was a system where people were separated by race.

After apartheid ended, he focused more on taking photos of the country's beautiful landscapes. What made Goldblatt's work special was that he photographed more than just the big, violent events of apartheid. He showed the everyday conditions that led to these problems. His way of protesting was quiet but powerful. He said he tried to avoid quick judgments. This made his photos seem calm, but they were actually very meaningful. He published many books of his photographs.

Early Life and Beginnings

David Goldblatt was born in Randfontein, Gauteng Province in South Africa. He was the youngest of three brothers. His grandparents came to South Africa from Lithuania around 1893. They were escaping unfair treatment of Jewish people there.

David's father owned a clothing store. His mother worked as a typist for a clothing company. David thought this might be how his parents met. He went to Krugersdorp High School. Later, he studied commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Becoming a Photographer

David Goldblatt started taking pictures when he was a teenager. His father gave him his first camera. It was a damaged German Contax camera. His brother had brought it home after serving in World War II.

His first photos were not amazing, so he got help from a wedding photographer. He would carry many cameras to look professional. His job was to make sure other guests didn't get good photos. He would accidentally bump into them at the important moment. This made sure his boss was the only one with good pictures.

In 1963, his photography skills grew. He sold the clothing shop he had taken over after his father passed away in 1962. Then, he became a full-time photographer. He took pictures of South Africa during the apartheid era until it ended in the 1990s. He continued taking photos until he died in 2018.

Goldblatt's Unique Style

Throughout his career, Goldblatt didn't see himself as an artist. He felt uncomfortable with that label. Many people agreed he was more of a documentary photographer than an artist. He had a new way of doing documentary photography. He spent his life photographing issues that went beyond the main events of apartheid. He showed the everyday situations that led to these problems.

Goldblatt wasn't a fan of the fancy art world. He went to exhibition openings but secretly disliked the attention. He simply called himself a photographer to avoid the "artist" label. He said he was an observer who liked to show things that people often missed.

His photos were not always clearly political. He said he wasn't an activist, unlike many of his friends and other photographers at the time. Some people looked down on him for not being more involved in protests. But Goldblatt said he wouldn't change his own way of working. Instead of taking photos that judged people, he wanted to show how complicated things were.

Goldblatt often photographed everyday life. He didn't focus on the obvious violence of Apartheid South Africa. Instead, he preferred to show how violence appeared in ordinary situations. He said he avoided violent scenes because he wouldn't know how to photograph them.

Life Under Apartheid

During apartheid, Goldblatt created a series of photos called The Transported of KwaNdebele. These photos showed black workers who lived in special "homelands" far from cities. They had to travel for many hours each day on uncomfortable buses to get to work. Even in 2007, conditions hadn't changed much for these workers. Goldblatt noted that it would take many years to fix the problems caused by apartheid.

In the 1970s, Goldblatt showed another unfair part of the apartheid government. He photographed houses, shops, and other buildings in a Johannesburg area called Pageview. The Group Areas Act of 1950 forced many local people to leave their homes. The government wanted white South Africans to live there. Goldblatt's photos showed how the local people resisted. They stayed in their homes and businesses, even when they were damaged.

After apartheid ended, Goldblatt kept photographing in South Africa. He especially liked to capture the country's landscapes.

Black and White to Color

When Goldblatt photographed during apartheid, he never used color. He felt that using color would make things look too beautiful or personal. Black and white photos, he believed, better showed the harsh differences of that time. In the 1990s, he started working in color. This was partly because of new digital technology. He found working with color exciting. He could now edit color photos on a computer, just like he did with black and white photos in a darkroom.

He fully embraced color after working on a project about blue asbestos in Australia. This project involved serious health issues. He realized that you couldn't show the blue color of asbestos in black and white. New digital scanning and printing also helped him. He only used color widely when he could get the same "depth" in his color photos as he did in his black and white ones.

Collections and Books

David Goldblatt's photographs are kept in major museums around the world.

More people became interested in his work after a traveling exhibition of his photos. This show covered 51 years of his work and started in Barcelona in 2001. Another important show was Documenta in Kassel in 2002. The New York exhibition in 2001 showed his photos from 1948 to 1999. At Documenta, he showed black-and-white photos of white middle-class life in Boksburg from the 1970s and 1980s. He also showed some of his later color work from a series called Johannesburg Intersections.

Goldblatt's book South Africa: The Structure of Things Then came out in 1998. It looked closely at how South Africa's buildings and places were shaped by its history. This included everything from its early colonial days until 1990.

Goldblatt also wrote a lot about architecture. He explored the deeper meanings found in the buildings we live in.

Who Inspired Goldblatt?

Goldblatt was inspired by photos in magazines like Life, Look, and Picture Post. These magazines helped him learn how to write captions for his photos. He also named writers and visual artists as big influences. These included Jillian Becker, Guy Tillim, Herman Charles Bosman, Nadine Gordimer, Njabulo Ndebele, Ivan Vladislavic, and playwright Barney Simon.

Herman Charles Bosman especially helped inspire Goldblatt's second photo essay, The South African Tatler.

Goldblatt also influenced other photographers, like Santu Mofokeng. They studied together during apartheid. They helped create new ways of doing documentary photography. This made them very important and well-known in the field.

Later Life and Legacy

In 1989, David Goldblatt started the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg. This was a place for photographers to learn and grow. He was always willing to help any photographer, whether they were famous or just starting out. He remained open and helpful to everyone, even in his later years.

David Goldblatt passed away on 25 June 2018 in Johannesburg from cancer. He continued to take photographs right up until his death. He was survived by his wife, Lily Goldblatt, his children Steven, Brenda, and Ronnie, and two grandchildren.

Awards and Recognition

David Goldblatt received many important awards for his photography:

• 1995: Camera Austria Award for Contemporary Photography
• 2001: Honorary Doctor in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town
• 2006: Hasselblad Award – a major international award in photography
• 2007: Honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand
• 2007: Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society
• 2009: HCB Award
• 2010: Lucie Award, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2011: Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute
• 2013: Infinity Award: Cornell Capa Award for Lifetime Achievement

Where His Work Is Kept

David Goldblatt's photos are part of the permanent collections in many public museums and galleries. Some of these include:

• Durban Art Gallery
• Johannesburg Art Gallery
• South African National Gallery, Cape Town
• Constitutional Court, Johannesburg
• Art Institute of Chicago, USA
• Museum Kunstpalast, Germany
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA
• Getty Center, Los Angeles