Sam Nhlengethwa The Beat of Drum Lithographs

Artist Sam Nhlengethwa sitting at table looking at his limited edition prints  based on Drum Magazine

A suite of prints based on Drum, the famous magazine that started in 1951 and which captured the zeitgeist of the 1950s and 1960s. Drum was instrumental in pioneering investigative journalism in apartheid South Africa as well as celebrating life in Black communities. Underlying the images is the narrative of identity and citizenship articulated through dynamic ideas on belonging, equality and universality. The editions consist of 22 prints each, 2016 being the 22nd year of democracy in South Africa. With these prints, Nhlengethwa hopes to educate and remind the youth of where they come from.

King Kong was a landmark South African jazz-influenced musical, billed at the time as an "all African jazz opera". It opened in Johannesburg in 1959 and was an immediate success and it "swept South Africa like a storm", touring the country for two years and playing to record-breaking multi-racial audiences, before being booked for a London production in 1961, by which time it had been seen by some 200,000 South Africans.

Miriam Makeba (1932 - 2008), was known as Mama Africa and the Empress of African Song. She was one of the most visible and outspoken opponents of South Africa's apartheid regime from the 1960s till its dismantling in the early 1990s. She was also the anti-apartheid movement's most audible spokesperson. In the 1960s, she was the first artist from Africa to popularize African music around the world. She lived in exile for thirty years and only returned to South Africa in 1990.

Kalamazoo Stephen Mokone (1932 – 2015) was a South African soccer star who was the first black South African player to play in a professional European league in the early 1960s. He was also the first foreign professional player in Dutch football. He went on to play soccer internationally and settled in the USA when he stopped playing. He was convicted of various assault cases against his wife and her lawyer and spent time in jail. His other nickname was The Black Meteor.

Sam Nhlengethwa talks about his exhibition where these prints were shown (video).

New Editions from The Artists' Press

Artists Listed Alphabetically from A to  L

Artists Listed Alphabetically from M to X

For links to other prints done by Nhlengethwa, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

For orders (with free shipping) or any other enquiries, contact us!


Red based abstract image with The Beat of Drum and All African Jazz Opera written on it.

Title: King Kong
Medium: Six colour lithograph
Size: 52.2 x 40.2 cm
Edition size: 22
Price: R  11 000 (excl.VAT)


Lithograph of Drum Magazine cover with drawing of singer Miriam Makeba on it.

Title: Ode to Miriam Makeba
Medium: Four colour lithograph
Size: 52.2 x 40.2 cm
Edition size: 22
SOLD OUT


Litho of Drum magazine cover with protesting crowd holding placards on it.

Title: Protest
Medium: Three colour lithograph
Size: 52.2 x 40.2 cm
Edition size: 22
Price: R  11 000 (excl.VAT)


Handdrawn Drum Magazine cover with crowds of people, buildings and a truck

Title: Forced Removal
Medium: Four colour lithograph
Size: 52.2 x 40.2 cm
Edition size: 22
Price: R  11 000 (excl.VAT)


Lithograph of a magazine cover with soccer player Kalamazoo Mokone kicking a ball.

Title: Kalamazoo Mokone
Medium: Four colour lithograph
Size: 52.2 x 40.2 cm
Edition size: 22
Price: R  11 000 (excl.VAT)


Click on the links below to see other prints by Sam Nhlengethwa
Art meets Fashion
Joburg Selected
Goats
Waiting
The Recyclers

Township Series
Jazz Series
Restaurant Series
Tribute Series
Conversations
Glimpses of the 50s and 60s
Sam Nhlengethwa's Home Page

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