[Source - Chloe Rushovich for FHYA, 2018, using materials provided by Nessa Leibhammer: The Brenthurst Collection is housed on long-term loan in the Traditional Collections in JAG. The collection was assembled by Jonathan Lowen from auction houses, dealers, and flea markets in Europe and England. The collection was placed on long-term loan at the Johannesburg Art Gallery from the Brenthurst Library in 1987. The Brenthurst Collection is housed within the Traditional Collections in the JAG. The collection was exhibited at the JAG in 1991, the first time a comprehensive collection of southern African material had ever been seen together. The catalogue 'Art and Ambiguity: Perspectives on the Brenthurst Collection of Southern African Art' was published to coincide with the exhibition. Because the Brenthurst Collection does not belong to JAG the collection does not appear in any accession register of the institution. This catalogue was the first complete listing of the collection. Subsequent to this the collection was entered onto the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Star database using the Brenthurst Catalogue as the reference.
The FHYA selection of the items within the Brenthurst Collection was made by Nessa Leibhammer, who curated the Traditional Collections from 1994 to 1996, and then again from 2005 to 2013. This selection currently contains 16 items, and their associated material, which Leibhammer identified as probably dating to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and as coming from the FHYA target area of KwaZulu-Natal and immediately adjacent regions.]
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