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Now dark brown in colour, the
latest repatination of the Miners' Monument, again done by Todor Karabounarliev,
should last for 20 years.
NO, the miners are not having a birthday. But they are being recognised by a Wits art student – she has tied 300 bright yellow balloons to the Miners’ Monument in Rissik Street.
"I wanted to brighten up the area, to draw attention to the sculpture," says third-year art student Kira Lemper.
Tamed: the eland at the top of Jan Smuts Avenue in Braamfontein
She has also made a similar intervention at the tall Eland at the top of Jan Smuts Avenue in Braamfontein. She placed a large yellow saddle across the back of the eland.
"I am not harming or damaging the sculpture. It is just something random, something arty to get people to thinking about art in a different way," she adds.
It is part a project in her studies, on which she will be assessed next week, she says.
Meanwhile, the three bronze men of the sculpture now gleam in a rich charcoal colour, after having received a welcome dose of fussing in the form of repatinating, courtesy of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
The men are miners, grouped
together and facing southwest to Langlaagte, where gold was first discovered in
Johannesburg in
1886. The sculpture is called the Miners' Monument, and was donated to the City
in 1964 by The Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines.
"The artwork symbolises the
contribution of the mining industry to the wealth and prosperity of South Africa,"
reads the plaque at the site. "It was also intended as a people's monument and
celebrates the working people who built the city."
The three men - two black miners
and a white supervisor - make a striking threesome, with muscular arms and legs
and bare backs, holding a large drill.
It was made by David MacGregor,
who also produced a statue of Carl von Brandis, the city's first commissioner
of mines, which stands outside the High Court. It was originally proposed that
the two sculptures be one. A maquette of them together was made and displayed
in the council's committee room, but the idea was abandoned.
"The maquette was reported upon
unfavourably by the Africana Museum [now Museum Africa] Advisory Committee, the
architect assessors on the Ad Hoc Civic Centre Board, by the Aesthetic Control
Advisory Committee and by the Art Gallery Committee," according to the minutes
of an ordinary council meeting of 28 May 1963.
After some discussion with the
Chamber of Mines, the proposed single sculpture was commissioned as separate
artworks, and placed at different sites in the inner city. It was felt that the
two ideas were not complementary.
"Perhaps the main underlying
reason for the adverse reports on the original concept, which incidentally do
not reflect the views of all those who viewed the maquette, was that there
appeared to be no relationship between Carl von Brandis and the group of miners,"
continues the minutes.
Two maquettes have survived: one
in the foyer of the Chamber of Mines, the other at Museum Africa in Newtown.
Bronze
Bronze is a metal that tarnishes in the elements, and needs maintenance. The
work was repatinated in mid-2006 by Todor Karabounarliev, bronze founder of Art
Tony.
Karabounarliev was called on
again to do his magic with the sculpture. He says the sculpture is in good
condition, but needed a little welding on the legs where small holes had
developed.
Bronze is made primarily from
copper, mixed with tin, zinc, nickel and other metals. Its natural colour is
light red, and it never rusts. It is repatinated by giving it a protective
coating, the result of a chemical treatment. Karabounarliev has given it a dark
brown colour this time around, which, he says, should last for another 20
years.
The base of the statue and the
paving around the base have been pressure cleaned and repointed.
The sculpture was originally
surrounded by lights, and a fountain sprayed up on to the figures, but the
metal fittings for these were stolen some time ago. In 2002, the right boot of
one of the miners was sawn off, while a blade was to be seen sticking out the
leg of the other miner. The boot was restored and the blade removed.
The JDA spent about R200 000 on
the repatination of the sculpture, says Sophia Ndhlovu, the development
co-ordinator at the agency.
There are now several impressive
sculptures demarcating the entrances to the inner city. The Braamfontein Eland and
the recently unveiled Fire Walker, together with the Miners' Monument, mark the
northerly entrance to the CBD. The Paper Pigeon, installed this week in Pigeon Square,
marks the western entrance, while the Shepherd Ndudzo diamond-shaped sculpture
heralds the eastern entrance.
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