1980 - 1990

Eschewing the then, de rigueur, art school orthodoxy towards minimalism and conceptual performance art, FSG chose to address the figure with painterly abandon. Her methodology was challenging to both the artistic and the societal mores of the time. Images of nudity and sexuality were totally taboo and to be exhibited in a highly respected art space was a big ask for all.

Controversy raged in the press to such a degree that the gallery was surreptitiously visited by the secret police in hats and raincoats. The artist received handwritten letters beseeching her to refer to biblical texts for salvation. At ground level however, posters for the exhibition (Wolpe Invitation. 1983. Oil on canvas. 168x250cm) were being stolen and framed by many for private use. 

Joe Wolpe stoically stood his ground. He subsequently often quoted Kahlil Gibran to the artist: “The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on”... this affirmation helped quell her doubts and self-belief.

In the accompanying catalogue to the 1986 show, Francine Scialom Greenblatt wrote: 

"I am for a psycho-sexual-social art which has charisma, resonance, intrigue, obsession, soulness, after taste and passion. The structure of which is discovered in experience in the physical or spiritual."

In Pierre Restany’s book, in describing the work of this period, the art critic Otto Hahn writes:

“Under the guise of allegorical painting, Francine Scialom Greenblatt undertakes a certain form of automatic writing where the lips, the torsos, the thighs are burned by an uncontrolled fire. Without the humour and the distance that the artists put into each of their pictures, her emblematic figures would fall into bombastic grandiloquence: Francine Scialom Greenblatt is well aware of this, for by means of their colours she introduces a playful dimension that contradicts seriousness of intention. This mixture of feverish themes and pictorial exploits, of coloured signs and monumental graphism show that Francine Scialom Greenblatt conceives of her works as mental ‘collages’ where dreams move through time, get mixed up with cultural products as well as inner tensions”. (Francine Scialom Greenblatt. Pierre Restany. Editions Andre Sauret)

Most of the paintings in this exhibition were a culmination of a body of work made primarily for a particular project launched by the South African National Gallery in 1989.

Between May and September 1989, the SA National Gallery’s Education Division will present an INVITED ARTIST'S PROGRAM in the Annexe Gallery. The idea is for artists to set up studio in the Gallery where they will work on a particular approach to artmaking or explore various media. The duration of each artist’s stint will be two weeks. The public is invited to observe and engage these artists at work.
The first invited artist is Cape Town painter Francine Scialom Greenblatt. During her stay, Scialom Greenblatt will be working from photographs within a radius of 100 meters from the SA National Gallery. These photographs will be interpreted and transformed into large oil paintings on canvas. As these paintings progress, they will be documented at various stages to enable the public to trace their evolution.
Francine Scialom Greenblatt, will conduct a painting/drawing workshop for adults on Sunday May 4th. 
- Published by SANG