Sydney Kumalo

Sydney Alex Kumalo (1935–1988) was a South African sculptor. Together with Anton van Wouw, Edoardo Villa and Ezrom Legae he is regarded as one of South Africa's best sculptors. He sculpted in clay, terracotta, and Plaster of Paris. Most of his sculptures were cast in bronze by the Renzo Vignali foundry in Pretoria.

Early life Sydney Alex Kumalo was born on 13 April 1935 in Sophiatown, Johannesburg and raised in a Zulu family.

Art education Most of his art training came from the Polly Street Art Centre. There he received guidance from Cecil Skotnes and Egon Guenther. The stance of his figures mostly resemble animals. His figures where usually disproportionate with larger features and elongated torsos. There is a sense of controlled movement, simplicity, and somewhat restraint within his work.

Awards and accolades Kumalo received many awards and accolades in acknowledgement of his talents, both in South Africa and internationally, at a time in South Africa’s history when official policies were intensely discriminatory and negatively impacted black people.

1960: Special Award for ‘the most promising up and coming artist’ at the Artists of Fame and Promise exhibition, Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg, July 1960 for his sculptures Praying Woman (1960) and Pregnant Young Woman (1960). 1963: Philip Frame Award, Art South Africa Today, Durban Art Gallery, August 1963 for his terracotta Girl with Dove (1963). 1966: 33rd Venice Biennale, June – October 1966, exhibited three works: Head Big Ears (Elongated) (1965), Horse (1964) and Seated Woman (1959). 1967: travel bursary for three months to the USA as a guest of United States/South African Leadership Exchange Program (US-SALEP), April – June 1967. 1967: Ninth Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, September – December 1967 sculptures exhibited: Lying Woman (1964), Madala V (1967), Tongue Out (1966) and Zulu Chief (1962). 1967: Bronze Medal: Fourteenth Exhibition of the Transvaal Academy, Johannesburg Art Gallery, October to November 1967 for his sculpture Madala I (1966).

Exhibitions

Kumalo's sculptures were exhibited on many occasions during his lifetime and after his death in solo and group exhibitions both at leading South African galleries and at high profile galleries in the UK, Europe and the USA.

African Artists, Polly Street Art Centre, Helen de Leeuw Gallery, Johannesburg, 1958 Artists of Fame and Promise, Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg, 1960 Urban African Art Exhibition, the Union Exposition incorporating the 49th Rand Easter Show, Johannesburg, 1960 Exhibition of Non-European Paintings & Sculpture by the Polly Street Art Centre, Queens Hall Art Gallery, Johannesburg, 1960 A Connoisseur’s Choice, Egon Guenther Gallery, Johannesburg, 1960 An exhibition of Sculpture and drawings by Sydney Kumalo, Egon Guenther Gallery, Johannesburg, 1962 Art South Africa Today 1963, Durban Art Gallery, 1963 Exhibition of the Amadlozi Group at the Galleria Numero in Rome, Florence, Milan, and Venice, Italy, in 1963 and 1964. Eleventh Exhibition of the Transvaal Academy, Johannesburg Art Gallery, November 1964 Fifty Years of Sculpture: Some Aspects 1914–1964. Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1965 Exhibition of Kumalo Bronzes and Drawings, United States Information Service (USIS) Auditorium, Shakespeare House, Johannesburg,1965 African Painters and Sculptors from Johannesburg, Piccadilly Gallery, London, 1965 Opening of Egon Guenther’s New Private Gallery, Linksfield, Johannesburg, 1965 South African Artists, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1965 33rd Venice Biennale, Italy,1966 Kumalo–Skotnes, Grosvenor Gallery, London,1966. Group Exhibition, Four Sculptors (Ayrton, Gutfreund, Kumalo, Neizvestny), Grosvenor Gallery, New York, 1966 Ninth Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil, 1967 Sydney Kumalo, Bronzes and Drawings, Egon Guenther Gallery, Johannesburg, 1967 Sydney Kumalo, Solo Exhibition of Bronzes and Drawings, South African Association of Arts Gallery, Pretoria, 1967 Group Exhibition: Paintings and Sculpture by Hannes Harrs, Sydney Kumalo, Cecil Skotnes, Natal Society of Arts Gallery, Durban, 1967. Group Exhibition: sculpture·sa 1900–1967, Adler Fielding Gallery, Johannesburg, 1967 Exhibition of the ‘Guenther Group’– Sydney Kumalo, Hannes Harrs, Ezrom Legae and Cecil Skotnes: Leader Gallery, Grahamstown,1967 Fourteenth Exhibition of the Transvaal Academy, Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1967 Exhibition of Busts in Sculpture, South African Arts Association Gallery, Pretoria, 1967 Sculpture from the Human Form, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1968 Group Exhibition: Peter Haden, Hannes Harrs, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae, Edoardo Villa and the Unknown Masters of Africa, Egon Guenther Gallery, Johannesburg, 1968. Fifteenth Exhibition of the Transvaal Academy, Johannesburg City Library, 1969 Connoisseur’s Choice, Johannesburg College of Education, 1969 Sculpture, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1969 Contemporary African Art, Camden Arts Centre, London, 1969 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1973 Group Exhibition: Sydney Kumalo, Louis Maqhubela and Geoffrey Armstrong, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, 1971 Group Exhibition of Sculpture, Contemporary and Traditional African Art, Gallery International, Cape Town, 1973 Exhibition of Zulu Culture; ‘Kultur der Zulu’, Museum of Nations, Vienna, Austria and Lille France 1974 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, Goodman-Wolman Gallery, Cape Town, 1974 Contemporary South African Art, National Art Gallery, Athens, Greece, 1974 Zulu Art, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale (Royal Museum for Central Africa), Tervuren, Belgium, 1975 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, South African Association of Arts, Pretoria, 1976 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1977 Contemporary African Art in South Africa, University of Fort Hare Collection; touring exhibition, 1979 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1979 Beeldhou 80/ Sculpture 80, University of Pretoria Merensky Library, 1980 Mixed Media Drawings and Sculptures by Sydney Kumalo, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1982 Tributaries – A View of Contemporary South African Art, Africana Museum (Museum Africa), Johannesburg, 1985 Image of Man: The Human Head in Modern Sculpture, South African national touring exhibition, 1984 – 1985 Amadlozi ’85, USA, 1985 Sydney Kumalo Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1987 Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1988 The Neglected Tradition: Towards a New History of South African Art (1930 - 1988), Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1989 Art from South Africa c. 1917-c. 1980, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1995 Sydney Kumalo: Commemorative Exhibition of Drawings and Sculpture, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 1997 20th Century Sculpture, Archipenko to Reddy, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 2007 A Labour of Love–Art of South Africa, Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt, Germany, 2015/2016 Re/discovery and Memory, the works of Kumalo, Legae, Nitegeka and Villa, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, 2018 A Black Aesthetic: A View of South African Art, 1970–1990. Standard Bank Art Gallery, Johannesburg, 2019 The Sculptures of Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae, a Retrospective; Strauss & Co., Johannesburg, 2023