The University of Johannesburg’s Special Collections has recently acquired the following books.

1. Walter Battiss’ Fook Book 1

No 47 of an edition of 50 copies.

The screenprints are all signed by Battiss and numbered.

Battiss’ so-called Fook Island concept has its roots in his extensive travels to relatively remote areas in America, the Middle East and Europe. After a lengthy visit to the Pacific Islands in 1976, Battiss began to travel frequently to more remote and seemingly exotic areas.

Born from a hunger for a different and more simple and unspoilt kind of society in which to live, the concept presupposed an area or community with a unique and independent identity. Battiss created ‘fooklore’, stamps, and the Island’s own currency – and thus attracted local and international adherents and Fook Island ‘citizens’ like Norman Catherine, Janet Suzman, Esmé Berman, Jani Allan and Linda Givon. http://walterbattiss.co.za/fook-island/

2. Congo by Irma Stern

It is a signed limited edition copy.

‘In 1942, seemingly oblivious of the [Second World] War, she ventured into central Africa on her own for the first time, armed with self-confidence, and supplies of acid drops and cigarettes with which to ply the Congolese population. She was ill-prepared for travel in the then Belgian Congo and arrived at the office of the South African Consul, Mr Imker Hoogenhout, to request assistance in hiring a car and English-speaking chauffeur for a month-long expedition.’

‘Only through his contacts was the Consul able to acquire a roadworthy car, ‘borrow’ the British Consul’s stand-by chauffeur, and obtain a letter of introduction to the district commissioner of the areas to be visited. After a send-off dinner attended by the local dignitaries who were facilitating this cultural activity, Stern disappeared into the impenetrable tropical forest with its narrow, single lane dirt roads. Her one-month

visitor’s visa expired and the security department required pacification for her nonappearance. Only several months later did the irresponsible artist arrive back in Elizabethville. Mr Hoogenhout then arranged an exhibition which was a great success.’

‘Notwithstanding her verbal difficulties, Stern could produce vivid word pictures and, writing as she would paint, she created Congo (1943) and Zanzibar (1948) using energetic sentences pulsing with her romantic response to Africa.’

Marion Arnold Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye, (Fernwood Press, 1995) pages 13 & 21.

3. Zanzibar by Irma Stern

One of the ordinary edition limited to 350 unnumbered copies.

‘Stern visited in Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945. The island offered her access to a way of life she had glimpsed in her contact with the Cape Malays.’

‘In Zanzibar Arabs and the Mangbetu and Watussi of the Congo Stern found the models she sought; she responded to the colour and exoticism of these cultures although she saw the people in simplistic terms and was guilty of fatuous and patronizing statements about their life styles. It is as if she was unable to see life in any terms other than the visual.’

Marion Arnold Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye, (Fernwood Press, 1995) pages 13 & 21.

4. Pierneef, land and landscape : the Johannesburg Station panels in context = Pierneef, land en landskap : die Johannesburg stasiepanele in konteks / N J Coetzee

From the foreword: The Pierneef Station Panels are possibly the best known public commission in South Africa. The re-allocation from the Station building to the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1987 was a significant event in making this national cultural treasure more accessible to the visiting public.