Bo Kaap - DinksFãStan Private Collection 1944

Gregoire Boonzaier made this small pastel drawing of Bo Kaap at an unknown date. Imagine the artist standing on the street, pastel in hand, squinting at the light as he decides where to place his marks. He’s not trying to copy the scene exactly but to evoke the feel of it, the way the light hits those colorful buildings. Look how he’s built up the layers of color, one on top of the other. The strokes are soft and broken, giving the whole scene a hazy, dreamlike quality. It reminds me a little of Die Brücke artists like Kirchner or Schmidt-Rottluff. I can feel him responding, not just to the scene in front of him, but also to the pastel itself, letting its crumbly texture and muted colors guide his hand. Boonzaier’s mark-making suggests the presence of the artist, the action of their hand and the movement of their body. The choices he made in this drawing speak to those made by other artists too, across time and place.