David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the career of South African photographer David Goldblatt, exploring his artistic commitments, networks, and influence. It accompanies a major traveling retrospective of his work and features images and texts by contemporary photographers and scholars, many of whom were mentored by Goldblatt. The catalogue aims to create a more inclusive dialogue around Goldblatt's work and provides a broad frame of reference for his nuanced portrayals of life under apartheid.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 12 September 2023
Publisher: Yale University Press

David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive, a comprehensive retrospective of the renowned South African photographer's work, is set to coincide with the exhibition. Spanning from vintage handprints of his black-and-white photography, taken between the 1950s and the 1990s, to his post-apartheid, large-format, color work, the photographs in the volume are approached thematically, under headers such as "Assembly," "Disbelief," "Dialogues," and "Extraction," to unravel the artist's central interests in working-class people, the landscape, and the built environment. Objects from Goldblatt's personal archive are also included, further enriching the narrative.

To foster a more inclusive dialogue around Goldblatt's work, the catalogue features images and texts by contemporary photographers and scholars, many of whom were mentored by Goldblatt. Some contributors write on Goldblatt's photographs, while others discuss his influence on their own work. Goldblatt dedicated his life to documenting his country and its people. Known for his nuanced portrayals of life under apartheid, he covered a wide range of subjects, all of them intimately connected to South African history and politics.

The diverse voices in this catalogue provide a broad frame of reference for Goldblatt's work, countering a frequent misunderstanding of apartheid as a situation peculiar to South Africa.

Published in association with Fundación MAPFRE, Art Institute of Chicago, and Yale University Art Gallery, the exhibition is scheduled to be held at the Art Institute of Chicago from December 2, 2023, to March 25, 2024. It will then travel to MAPFRE, Madrid, from May 29, 2024, to September 1, 2024, and finally conclude at Yale University Art Gallery from February 21, 2025, to June 1, 2025.

Weight: 1736g
Dimension: 249 x 291 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300273410