1990 - 2004

Works on this show were a celebratory explosion of paint on canvas. With iconographic irreverence, Francine Scialom Greenblatt lashed swathes of colour in defining shapes with expressionistic vigour. Hers was a clarion call to painters in defiance to all claiming ‘the death of painting’.

Five homages to composers heralded magnificent sounds in concrete form, on large abstract land / sea / skyscapes. Growing up in a musical family (her mother, Paulette Scialom, sang in the chorus at the Cairo Opera House in the 40’s), these works highlighted the importance of sound in her practice.

Multifaceted works palpably spoke to our sense of touch and taste. Theatrical references continued the pleasure principle with dramatic exuberance. Musical clues abounded – ‘Keyboard’, ‘Portals II’ (Tosca), ‘Nothing is as it Seems’ (Madame Butterfly) and ‘Operatic’. With artifice, the artist chose to remind the viewer of the omni present Voyeur, in the form of the Noh actor or Geisha. These paintings, together with ‘Enigma Wrapped in Mystery Shrouded in Secrets’ (Winston Churchill) underscored the artist’s multicultural make-up.

Dubow continues:

"This exhibition is called ‘One to One’. And that’s significant.

One to one is different from, Me to You, And is very different from, You and Me – where the Me (the painter) is more important than the You (the sitter)

…one where the one-to-one relationship becomes in Martin Buber’s famous phrase the I-Thou relationship.

The I-Thou relationship is predicted on trust and respect. More than this it depends on a certain kind of love. Not a selfish kind, but a sharing kind."

This was an installation of 32 contiguous oil paintings sharing a common height of 79cm and a variety of widths, not exceeding 122cm. The desire of the artist was for visitors to engage curatorially and participate in re-positioning the order of pictures. By doing so, the viewer could shift personal responses and establish new relationships between the paintings themselves.

The hierarchical significance of the gallery space is such that not one painting was touched during the full duration of the exhibition. This intimidating reality is frequently disempowering, forcing audiences to search for the written word or portable audio assistance before trusting their personal instincts and predispositions in response to paintings. 

The artist was interested in the process of remembering... how in the telling, each protagonist usually has a different perspective or recollection of a shared event... how each ‘truth’ is inconsistent. 

In a fresh, post-Apartheid South Africa, at a time when history was being reconstructed in an exciting new geopolitical scene, it was important for Francine Scialom Greenblatt to address her concerns  in nuanced statements eschewing grandiose agitprop declarations.

The decision by the artist to incorporate the colour gold, with all its implications, into this body of work was a precarious one. What is the significance of GOLD? Capitalism? Catholicism? Ritual? In that context, it was a subversive device questioning the dynamics of power, past and present.  Images on round canvases were introduced creating a sculptural illusion which vibrated in space, disrupting the hushed stillness of the gallery. 

In her opening speech, the author and commentator Hilary Reynolds quoted the Czechoslovakian poet and writer Rainer Maria Rilke: ‘To be an artist means not to compute or count; it means to ripen as the tree, which does not force its sap, but stands unshaken in the storms of spring with no fear that summer may not follow, it will come regardless.’

In opening this exhibition, Prof Neville Dubow, Head of Michaelis, University of Cape Town, stated the following:

'There can be few who are unaware of the fact that this past year has been a traumatic one for Francine. She has suffered a deep personal loss with the death of her beloved husband, Frank. But even the grievous loss of a life partner does not change the essence of the compulsion that drives the art that she makes. This exhibition is a testament to the personal courage and depth of the inner compulsion that has driven her art. In her research document she wrote that “interesting art... suggests a private universe which is vitally meaningful and compelling to the maker. In entering another’s personal space, the viewer thus begins a voyeuristic transaction.

Fair enough. But FSG extends this to include herself as creator/onlooker. She is both creator and voyeur of her own private universe. An auto-voyeur, or to be more precise, the French concept of auteur / voyeur.