Bill Ainslie

 

Essay by Natalie Nolte, 2000

His Life
His Personality
Politics
Teachings
Style
Influences
Critics
Footnotes
Bibliography

 

His Life

Bill Ainslie was born in Bedford in the Eastern Cape, in the year 1934. The family farmed there on farm called Spring Grove, since their arrival from Scotland in 1820. Some of his family are still there today. It is said to be the most beautiful in the country: "A paradise of hills and rivers and woods and pasture lands, glittering with butterflies, with the great Cape mountains circling the valley". Bill's father chose to move from there to the Karroo, and this is where Bill spent most of his early childhood. In these hot, barren conditions he saw how difficult it is for all living things to survive under such desperate conditions with no help, and this could have perhaps influenced his humanitarian approach to life. But beyond this, as David Koloane (Bill's student, friend and fellow painter) wrote, "Bill's upbringing in the vast and arid space of the Karroo is potently evoked in the scale and broad colour areas of his later works which are activated by the shrubby, textural quality".2
Because of drought his family was forced to abandon their farm and move. His father died when he was eight years old.

Bill went to King Edward School in Johannesburg. This is where he spent ten years of his school life. Here he was head boy and captain of rugby, cricket and cadets, a born leader.
He went to the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg in 1953, where he thought he would study agriculture. But after doing an aptitude test he found that his strengths lay more in the humanities than in the sciences. His mother suggested that he do a BA whilst deciding what direction he should follow. He studied philosophy, theology and psychology and at first felt that he wanted to become a priest. After talking to Calvin Cook (a priest who married him and Fieka, and later buried him) and meeting Selby Mvusi (a fine artist who was later banned from South Africa), Bill turned to art and dedicated his life to making it accessible to all. He studied under Professor Heath and during his six years at the University of Natal, he obtained a BA (Fine Arts). He was president of the SRC in his final year; he was also a fine sportsman and an able student.

Bill went on to teach at Michael House, a school in Natal. Whilst teaching there he was a member of the Liberal Party. At one stage he helped the workers from the rubber factory, who came to him and asked if he could help them to get a raise in salary and improve their working conditions. He also assisted the farm labourers, who lived in appalling conditions and never saw their families during daylight. He organised meetings between the farm labourers and owners and helped improve certain aspects, such as better working hours. This earned him much unpopularity with the farm owners and the capitalists.

In 1960 Bill married Sophia Jansen-Schottell (known as Fieka). Fieke felt that Michael House wasn't the ideal place for him to be working and so, when he received an invitation to go and revive the art school at Cyrene Mission in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), they left South Africa for two years. Bill became involved in the student council here. This was during a time of student uprisings and he helped them, by doing things such as obtaining students' releases when they were picked up by the police.

Later Bill returned to his old school, King Edward, where he taught for two years. He taught everything from English to theology and also served as a substitute teacher. "It was a big change for him from teaching black children, who were eager to learn and eager for knowledge, and then at King Edward's, the children didn't want to learn, they only wanted to cause mischief, and he couldn't stand it. He painted his way through his stay there," says Fieka. He had an exhibition at the Adler Fielding gallery in 1964.

The Adler Fielding Gallery offered Bill a retainer. This meant that they would pay for his rent and food if he would have an exhibition at their gallery after a year. He accepted this offer. During this year he changed to abstract art, before this he had been a figurative painter. He painted and drew massive pictures of subjects like African women, mother and child, farm labourers and the happenings in the country at the time. They were documents of that era.

Bill Ainslie's sudden leap to abstraction was as a result of seeing some paintings by Douglas Portway. This had a huge impact on his life. It also influenced him to explore the less obvious functions of form and colour. When the time came for his exhibition, the gallery told him they didn't want to exhibit his abstract paintings. He replied that he wouldn't have an exhibition if these weren't included, so they were - and the three abstract paintings were the first to sell (everything else sold as well).

In 1965 Bill won an award from Art SA Today. Then in 1966 he exhibited work at the Festival Exhibition in Pretoria. In 1967 he won another award from Art SA Today and in 1968 he had an exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg.

Bill started teaching privately from home. He wanted to be able to teach who and how he chose: art schools did not allow black students. He taught in a couple of rented houses. They started with a number of black artists/students (some of whom are now famous, like David Koloane and Dumile Feni). They had Saturday classes where they sculpted, drew, painted, etc. (This was not allowed in the "dark 60's", because of Apartheid, but he did so anyway). Some white students joined these classes, which became racially and culturally mixed. This also helped in terms of funds. The size of the classes grew and they were now held four days a week instead of just one.

Bill and Fieka were often interrogated by the police's special branch because of their open involvement with black people. Many of their black students were living with them because of the difficulty they had moving around South Africa at the time (under the "dompas" system). The police tried in many ways to intimidate them and make their lives as difficult as possible, but Fieka would bring them a cup of tea and a biscuit at 10:00 every morning as they stood outside People would say to her, "But that's your enemy". She would respond, "Yes, but I want to know the face of my enemy, and I also want to face them".

In 1969, Bill and his family left South Africa for two years. First they went to St Ives for a year, where Bill worked near Douglas Portway, his mentor. Here he had an exhibition at the Penwith Society Gallery. The Penwith Society was a gathering of artists from all over Britain who lived in St Ives at the time. They exhibited once a year and collectors from London would come and buy their artwork. Bill got excellent reviews, they called his work lyrical. He then moved on to doing minimal paintings.

They also lived in the Netherlands for a year. Here Bill had an exhibition in the Sfinx Gallery in Amsterdam, where he sold out. In the Netherlands at that time, the government often offered patronage to artists, whether or not they were from the Netherlands. Bill was offered patronage, but he decided not to accept. This they could not believe; they told him they had found out about him and knew that his situation in South Africa was difficult, that he could be picked up by the police when he returned. He replied that he had a role to play and needed to work in the cracks (of Apartheid).

In 1971, they returned to South Africa and Bill continued teaching. The Ainslie Studio's was founded. More and more students joined and other teachers were brought in. In 1976, after staying in several rented houses (they always lived in the building they worked) they moved to 6 Eastwold Way, Saxonwold, the current premises of the Johannesburg Art Foundation, as it was known after 1981. The school was a non-profit organisation, funds came from the few paying students, money that Bill and Fieka already had and paintings that were sold. It became a full-time programme.

"Together Bill and Fieka made a great force as Fieka was instinctive, physical and business-like and Bill diplomatic and visionary. And so they began the Johannesburg Art Foundation which was a great opposition to the racist government." 1

On 26 August 1989 Bill was killed instantly in a car accident on his way home from the Pachipamwe workshop at Cyrene Mission. At his funeral, many people heard our new national anthem, "Nkosi Sikele" sung for the first time. There were people from far and near, a racially mixed crowd came together to send Bill off and mourn his death. He lay in a plain pine coffin which was showered with a collage of lilies and wild blue flowers, that dripped down and carpeted the floor around him. There was jazz and dancing, a celebration that only a great African king would be honoured with.

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His Personality

"He was very gregarious, he had a real thirst for life and fun. He was a Christian, very religious, but he didn't talk about that. He studied sufism.
 He was a very interesting man, well and widely educated and widely read. He was also a very good writer. He was a wonderful person to live with and a wonderful man to have as a husband. He was easy going, but had a strong sense of discipline in his own life and environment, because he felt if you want to achieve something you must have discipline. He felt most strongly about art, politics, literature and human beings. He was a humanitarian and was interested in anybody, no matter where they came from." Fieka Ainslie 10

"He was an unassuming person; not personality-orientated, very modest – never put himself forward. Simply who he was, made one take every moment very seriously; see that everything has meaning. One could always find a teaching behind his words and actions. He was all things to all people; to a politician he was a politician, to an artist; an artist, and so on. He had integrity. As a student we were encouraged to meet the challenge of working to our highest potential. Every moment filled with meaningfulness and growth." Anna Varney-Wong 6

"The truth is that whatever you could say about Bill, you could also say the opposite: the consistency lay deeper. He was as light hearted and easy as a child, yet utterly serious; he didn't care how he lived, yet he was responsive to the beautiful ambiance Fieka created; he was abstemious, yet appreciated good food and drink; he never held himself back, but was careful and tactful with others; he was unpredictable yet utterly reliable; his rare angers could be utterly frightening yet his house was full of laughter. While he was a young teacher at Natal's posh Michael House School, he once broke up a conventional cricket match by riding a polo pony at breakneck speed across a field, straight through the cricket pitch ad players, and on into the distance. The horse had run away with him, but the disarray he caused surpassed the exuberance of the event. The image holds. Bill never rode roughshod through convention at any level just for the sake of it. Only when he had no option, discovering and demonstrating time and again that custom or timidity could be shattered, making space and energy for the thing that had never been tried before" Pat Williams i

"What I remember most clearly about my father, is his desire to push the individual. To almost put his hand down your throat to find and pull out that unique voice that lies in everyone of us, but gets beaten out of us in a patriarchal society of authority.
 I remember the image that my mother painted for me of the first time she met him. It was the last year of University, when he was doing his honours that Fieka went with the Dutch Cultural Attache to the Pietermaritzburg University. It wasn't simply the fact that Professor Heath spoke of Bill as being a great artist of fine intellect, and that it had been a privilege meeting him, but also how his old jeans held up by a piece of string, white shirt and brilliant blond hair shone amongst the grey flannels of his colleagues." Sophia Ainslie 1

"No single person is able to reflect fully what Bill means to so many. In paying a personal tribute to Bill, I can only follow those feelings that run closest to my sense of him and to my sense of what others have experienced through contact with him. For example, to be taken seriously by Bill was an experience like no other. He aroused a sense of danger, a desire to reach beyond the self, a need to offer more than habitual thought, and so would stimulate new awareness and sharper insight. Being serious was never being solemn. Bill loved life too much to lose his pleasure at making mischief. And it must be acknowledged that Bill was a powerful person. He was too powerful to accept the lies of Apartheid; he was too powerful to forget that beauty is truth; he was too powerful to be satisfied with things as they are. Wherever he went, and whatever he did, he caused change to happen. This city of Johannesburg is different because of Bill; this country is different because of Bill. There is no doubt in my mind that the spirit of liberation and that determination to transform this society are extensions of what Bill dedicated himself to over thirty years ago. His influence cannot yet be measured, and if it ever can be, we will all be astonished at its extent.
 It is impossible to separate Bill as a person from his involvement in the community and from him as an artist. Yet in my emphasis upon Bill as a person, I want to include that quality of patient gentleness which is so much part of his presence: in his voice, in his hand, in his eyes. And that gentleness cannot be felt or remembered as softness. That gentleness was part of a determination and an intensity of focus which made absolutely sure that things happened. If they did not happen soon, he made sure they happened eventually." Michael Gardiner xx

"Bill Ainslie, indefatigable seeker of information, especially such knowledge as leads to aesthetic insight and inner illumination, matched all the light he absorbed with the light he gave out. But his quality of light was extraordinary in that it had the character of simple ordinariness. Emanating from his patient perception of duty, necessity and merit, uncoloured by egotism or cynicism, it pervaded his sphere like a kind of daylight, employed by all eyes yet mostly unnoticed. That is why, though the sphere he benignly influenced was exceptionally large, he was less honoured and rewarded than he deserved." Sesame Literary magazine 3

"He had a calm matter-of-factness in his style. His manner implied that he did what he did simply because it was what circumstances naturally required to be done. Attention was deflected from the question of his personal choice." Lionel Abrahams 4

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Politics

Bill was strongly opposed to Apartheid. He tried his utmost to change the country's situation as far as he could. "The years from Sharpeville to the station bomb - I think it was during this time that white South Africa finally broke its heart in two, chose the half that offered it the gain of its world and left the other to empty suffering. It seems to me that it was during this time that it took the final decision to meet black South Africa face to face, and cruelly spurned the long patient effort the black man had made to draw attention to the desperation of his predicament in South Africa. So a new struggle began. Wider bannings. Sabotage. Political trials. 90 days. The allegations of torture. The station bomb. These events are called political but they refer to a struggle in the whole life of our country. A struggle over decisions and actions that affect where and how children will be born and educated, where and how lovers will meet. Where and how men will earn their daily bread, where and how they will marry, raise their children and die. They are decisions and actions that affect the whole flow of life, and those effects will be seen in the faces of our people and in the way they move." 5

Bill used to say, "We must work in the cracks of Apartheid". And this is exactly what he did. He felt one could not deal with it head-on and blast it down as this approach would not be at all constructive. Instead he found the cracks and worked in those. He felt art was a "crack". The leaders of the country could not entirely cover this area with their racial laws. "It was an unexpected place and so there were less blocks placed there. He equipped people with an art education by building art centers. He used to say that the harm and far reaching consequences of Apartheid, were worse than we could imagine. These were the times when there was no art in black schools and the DET education system was designed to debilitate rather than educate. Bill knew that the creative process artists engage in, is a healing process too. He was so completely an artist... and also a teacher in the most meaningful sense." 6

One of the ways he helped to work in the cracks was by instigating and starting different art centers. He started Alexandra Art Center (after he was approached by Joe Manana and Jingles (who was killed by Apartheid police shortly after the center opened); he was a trustee and council member for FUBA, he instigated Funda, he developed the Thupelo workshop (along with David Koloane), which was modelled on the Triangle Workshop in the USA. He also instigated the Pachipamwe workshop in Zimbabwe, the Thapong workshop, as well as other workshops in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.
 He made many statements against the Apartheid government. When he felt it was appropriate he would write articles protesting against certain happenings of the time and if he found out that an exhibition had racial inclinations, he refused to be part of it. In an exhibition called African Encounters, we see Bill's opposition to Apartheid, but instead of merely protesting against Apartheid, the exhibition defines the literal meaning of "apartness", by bringing together black and white artists from South Africa who reveal surprising aesthetic kinship, despite the racial polarities of their homeland. "This is not pro-apartheid, it's pro-people," explained Bill. Witherspoon who made the final selections for the exhibition said, "As always the artist is several years ahead of politicians." 7

This show revealed a great feeling for culture and had far more impact than the black and white headings we find in newspapers. Bill tried to create political art. In his younger years he said "What changes people, their attitudes can't be summed up in simple terms, and what I was doing was becoming repetitive. When you are living with anxiety as a constant companion, your art does not have a chance to develop. I now work within this country to overcome obstacles. I do it because I like the people, not out of guilt or necessity. This was the only thing to do to enable the gaps to develop in the Apartheid wall."1

"To Bill being an artist in South Africa meant being a sort of liminal person, someone who can't accept what society has laid down as the norm. A person who opens the eyes of society who in their busyness' overlook things. Someone who keeps society looking for meaning and provides possible meanings for the way in which humans organise their lives."1

Artists were censored in a way at that time. The "Bantu" education system, was the main means of doing this. Students were taught in Afrikaans - their third language and were suppressed in all possible ways. Being a free from of expression, art was not included in the syllabus of the majority of the country's schools, and was not an option for the poverty-stricken to take up as a hobby. And so, by creating art centers for the oppressed, Bill was also opening new doors for them, and helping to free that voice that Apartheid pushed so far down. "Without art, politics is corrupted by a false notion of power and becomes brutalised."8

He was not a politician, but in his art and teachings he made many political statements. He was strongly anti-violence. The police often interrogated him because of his "unlawful" involvement, but none of their attempts intimidated him, and he kept on doing all he possibly could. "The fact of his making these amazing objects was a statement against the deadliness of conformity and for the celebration of his life – a political statement in itself." 9

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Teachings

Bill was a teacher to everyone, whether or not they were his student in the formal sense. Art was not the only area in which he taught. Every moment was an ideal opportunity to draw a lesson from. "Art emerges from and addresses itself to the whole of life, but does so in a unique attitude. It accepts nothing of the past as necessary or sacred, what is necessary and sacred is the creative act which transfigures the past." 8

Sufi philosophies (particularly those written by Idries Shah) were an important part of his teachings. It had to do with the development of human beings. To spiritually develop people he used different means. In his art lessons he would "help people to see and thereby enable them to act". "I don't see teaching art as a teaching of skills and techniques. I see it as a struggle that never ends. We're not talking about techniques, we're talking about seeing." In his teachings he wanted to draw people's individual 'voice' out, he never dictated to his students what they should do. Instead he felt that they must dig deep into themselves and find what was there. If people came to him and asked "Can you make an artist out of me?" he would respond, "No, I cannot, that you do for yourself." 10

In his teaching he used several introductory drawing and painting projects to strip away preconceptions, which were usually baggage from the past. "Art is very much a case of individual seeing. During the first stage he invariably has to break down misconceptions and preconceptions about art." 9

 Some of his introductory exercises were as follows:

– An exercise in proportion, angles and positioning of objects (still life).

– A "screen and passage" exercise, where one deals with tonal values: how edges disappear or bleed into one another or contrasts or tonal contrasts create cut offs. Here one breaks away from object orientation. This also entailed an important human lesson, about materialism as one is taken into the realm of vision.

– Negative space; where one moves entirely away from the objects and looks at the space around and between objects. This helps one to see and also teaches one to paint from edge to edge and not focus only on objects of a canvas.

– Line darkness, roughness, weight of edges, etc.

– Mark making, experimental build up surfaces with texture.

– Cubism (which he called 'simultaneity'), to teach his students to see different angles at once; a mind-opening and barrier breaking exercise, which brought one into the contemporary art world in terms of development.

– He discussed colour, but did not focus on the colour wheel. He talked about how, if you look at a colour and then stare at a white wall, you will see its complementary.

– He also taught art history, in which he would further discuss, particularly in the form of slide lectures, the practical tangible properties of paintings, like colour, texture, mark, etc.

His teaching philosophy was seen to spring from his own experience as a practicing abstract artist, he was always tolerant and generous, giving freely from his rich formal experience to develop the critical abilities of students. Bill did not try to force anything foreign onto anyone as he was in favour of authentic experiences leading to authentic art.
 Bill spent long periods of time discussing only a few slides. And this is the way in which many of his paintings have come about - layers and layers of different painting processes. 9

He felt that experience was far more important than theory, so if you were "in class" five days a week, one of those days was focused on theory, and the rest was practical.
 "He helped one to become functional and constructive in the world, using art as the vehicle. He believed that the creative process of art making built confidence and enabled students to deal with the issues in their life. At the Johannesburg Art Foundation the teachers were all practising artists which ensured teachers were teaching students from direct experience rather than using a theoretical approach. Bill followed a principle that teachers could teach for three days of the week and use the rest of the time for their own painting. He met with the teachers at the end of each year and discussed how the year had gone and what changes were needed. It was always a growing experience. If you worked with him or knew him socially, you were a student, as he was primarily a teacher and an artist. 6

He wanted a school different from all those that existed where one could teach and speak freely, "At school there is a standardisation and regimentation in the teaching process. At our center we are involved in the individual development of vision. There is no standardisation.
Schools teach students how to do things. We don't believe in teaching people how as it teaches conformity in taste. We like to stress that they look for themselves. Art is very much a case of individual seeing. As soon as it is standardised you lose sight of the uniqueness." The Star 11

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Style

Some call Bill's style Free Form Abstraction, others call it Abstract Expressionism. He also did portraits. He told a student once, that they must never stop doing portraits, as these are useful to measure oneself. He did them to relax. In them he tried to capture the essence of the person. Sometimes people would say, "But I look much older in the painting." And he'd reply, "Well, you'll grow into it." 10

They were large and airy, with bold marks. In them he achieved such sweetness and captured a sense of 'otherness'. He didn't talk much about his portraits but did teach portraiture in his introductory courses and continued to paint and draw them.
 At the beginning of his painting career he was a figurative painter; he painted monumental figures: mother and child, African women, and situations that were occurring in South Africa at the time. Then, after Portway's influence on him, he moved on to paint very much as Portway did. At this time he moved to St Ives to live near his mentor. He then moved on to minimalist paintings, called the Namib series. These were colour field paintings; he was "emptying" himself out here, and taking his paintings back to basics. He was following the saying, which he often quoted to us, "If you see Buddha in the road, kill him." That is to say, the Buddha is within; you learn from your teacher, then "destroy" this attachment, as you become the teaching. 6

His paintings moved on as he worked to discover his own voice. They were often busy and some may have been over-worked. His paintings consisted of many layers - they were many paintings in one. Some he would work on for a few years before he felt they were complete. He felt frustrated about this layering process.
 The exceptions were some of his later paintings and his last paintings, when he painted about twenty-five in a matter of two weeks. They were fresh and had large spaces incorporated in them. He phoned Fieka many times during that workshop and told her "how easy things were coming and how marvelous it was." 10

According to David Koloane he did nothing but paint during the last workshop and they seldom saw the lights go out in his studio. "He had a tremendous sense of urgency in the last weeks of his life and spoke of the fact that his life was too short when I drove him up to Zimbabwe." says Fieka. 10

These works were the goal he was aiming for. They were simplified and were illuminating without having been wrestled with. They were a summary of the issues he'd laboured on all his life – a final solution. "He told his students, when a person reaches his 50's, they mature and produce their best works." says Anna Varney-Wong. He did these when he was 54. 6

His paintings were about the material, mark and colour working together to create the unknown. He used to say that "we are vessels and art flows through us". Our aim as artists is to be clear vessels, so great works can happen. He used to say that art is our 'non-self' and felt the artwork transcended the artist. In his work he was trying to achieve integrity, as well transcend the 'normal' state of mind. 6

In his paintings he was also trying to achieve joy. He wanted a painting that people could continue to look at, that would change in different kinds of light and that would continuously have more than could be seen and experienced at one sitting. 10

Light and the effect of light on colour generally influenced his colour. His colours weren't symbolic but totally spontaneous. He only used the best paints (Golden Paints, of which the thickness and colour were adjusted; they produced the most vibrant, unbelievable colours).
 He painted despite his mood. He was opposed to domination of emotion in one's work and felt that the only emotion "allowed" was that of being moved by beauty in nature.
One did not find rigid structures in his beliefs, most of what he said applied to the moment; a specific incident. 1

His mediums varied from pencil and charcoal to scraped off paint pieces, foam chips, bit of canvas, oil (in his earlier works) and acrylics (in his later works).
Bill believed that the artist had a calling to express their unique voice. "Once this engagement takes place, a sacrifice is involved because in order for it to live fully and give it full expression, all other interests must be sacrificed. However if one believes that it must be said, then the sacrifice has been made willingly. Our whole being must be committed to the expression." This was the basis on which he painted and how he became a tool to help others find their calling and give expression to it. 1

If he was to make good art, it must be on his own terms and he believed that abstraction is "the most defiant, most revolutionary way one could possibly paint." Bill never illustrated, he made a new reality in his work in which the whole vocabulary of the formal language of painting was harnessed in the expression of the psychic tensions and energies. He was totally against the reductionism of being able to explain (or lay flat) his work. The paintings represent no one and nothing - they are themselves. 9

"I see art as a dialogue made tangible between the artist and the life around him. Something comes from outside and something from inside. The artist selects and rearranges, and the selection and arrangement are dictated by the nature of the things that move the artist so that he can better approach the essence. This seems to have been true of art from the beginning."

Quoting Matisse, Bill said "A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject matter . . . The title will serve only to confirm my impression."

When someone asked Bill, "But what is this abstract painting all about?" Bill replied, "When you see a motorcar or a rose, do you ask that question? A rose is a rose, a car is a car and that is how you should regard this painting!"
 He also believed that powerful art was that which displaced the viewers' expectations and preconceptions. In fact, his attitude towards his discipline was almost mystical; art was an object of respect, exploration and revelation. 12

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Influences

Selby Mvusi influenced Bill hugely, he introduced Bill to the then banned ANC, and so Bill decided to dedicate his life to putting right what the white, conservative Afrikaner Government had made wrong. He felt the way to "pull out the people's voices" was through creativity.

Rural Mexican Art influenced his early, robust murals.
His sources of aesthetic inspiration were his personal countryside background, contemporary black and Spanish art, Van Gogh, Matisse and Douglas Portway, and a range of other artists such as Jackson Pollock, Larry Poons, Motherwell, etc.

He traveled a lot to America (and the rest of the world) visiting different artists. The artists in America kept telling him to come and live there: "You're one of us, you're in the wrong place." but he said no, he could only visit as he had plans (the Johannesburg Art Foundation). 10

William Kentridge and Simon Stone, were his students. He felt they would develop, as they drew from their inner selves. 10

Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock also influenced him, as he felt figurative painting had reached its zenith with Titian, but abstract expressionism was the worthiest means of attaining greater spiritual expression in painting. 12

However he never 'closed the door' on figurative art (hence his own life drawings). Larry Poons (from the Triangle workshop) influenced his texture, the large scale of his paintings, and his cropping of his paintings. Whenever Bill met people he groped to see what he could learn from them, in turn he taught them. He was also influenced by Jung (who played a large role in bringing understanding of the East to the West). He used the I Ching, and learned from it. Bill also studied the Kabbalah and was as open to learning from ancient teachings as he was from ordinary every day modern life. I remember him putting an old shoe in a still life and saying we must draw it until we discover it's soul. Although Bill mainly used art as a teaching tool, he held seminars where he taught us using a wide range of material. He also taught us from Sufi teachings, particularly those of Idries Shah. I remember once when he said, 'look around you, visualise this as a monastery – time will come when you must go out into the world'. And this is how it was. The Art Foundation was a sanctuary. 6

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Critics

"Although the painter himself was very much a man of his own world with its conflict, pain and promise, his last works seem almost other-worldly, dematerialized. And, using the words of international artist, the late Paul Klee, Ainslie's final paintings come perilously close not to rendering the visible, but rendering visible."

"It is one of those cruel ironies that Bill Ainslie's quest was curtailed just at the point when his aesthetic influence had really begun." Hazel Friedman (The Star) vii

"The first sight of works like these by Bill could be puzzling and maybe downright confusing if you have misconceptions about what painting should represent. If you keep an open mind and allow the painting to work on your inner eye, on you memories and dreams, you should be well and away.

"Bill has taken the use, maybe even the abuse, of paint so much further - quite over the top so that now Frankenthaler and Oliski are rendered harmless and polite." Jenny Stadler 9

"Ainslie makes no obeisance to what may be safe selling propositions. He paints in his way; a free contemporary style with an intelligent making and placing of marks, use of colour and building textures." John Dewar (The Star)xi

"Appearing to have evolved all by itself like the Chinese philosophy of the Tao, the painting seemingly does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone.

"It is timeless and awesome, and identifies Ainslie as working within the best of 20th century mainstream art." Samantha James (The Star) xiii

"The combination of colour, texture and excitement in Ainslie's paintings is breath-taking. He has captured the essence of South Africa, the richness of its landscape, its intimate and public moments, and even its musicality.

"Some of the paintings are tyrannical, others disturbing, but for all who care about our local art, there is much to be learnt from them.

"These paintings do not simply represent our country, they characterize it. They also tell us much about a man who cares about the many things that constitute his environment." Ben Temkin.

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Footnotes

1 - A homage to my father, Bill Ainslie; Sophia Ainslie; Course: Summer UEP 161; Professor: Louise Dunlop.
2 - Exhibition of works selected by the late Bill Ainslie; Opening speech by David Koloane
3 - Tribute to Bill Ainslie; Sesame, Jo'burg Literary Magazine; Autumn 1990
4 - Tribute to Bill Ainslie at his funeral; Lionel Abrahams; September 1 1989
5 - The Living Eye - a letter to Ngatane, Motjuoadi, Maqhubela and Sithole; Bill Ainslie;  The Classic, Quarterly Vol. 1 No 4; 1965
6 - Interview with Anna Varney-Wong (student, friend and fellow teacher)
7 - African Encounters, Thirteen S.A. Artists in New York (Catalogue); Natalie Knight Gallery Curates in New York
8 - An artists workshop - flash in the pan or a brick that the builders rejected; Speech by Bill Ainslie; University of Cape Town (conference); July 1979
9 - Bill Ainslie; Speech by Jenny Stadler; Johannesburg Art Foundation; August 27 1990
10 - Interview with Fieka Ainslie (wife)
11 - Art of the matter lost at school; Sally De Vasconcellos; The Star; Thursday December 6 1979
12 - Ainslie nurtured art from Alex to Houghton; The Star Tonight; Friday September 1 1989

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Bibliography

i) Paintings by Bill Ainslie 1934-1989; Pat Williams; 1990
ii) Exhibition of works selected by the late Bill Ainslie; Opening speech by David Koloane
iii) Pretoria News; Tuesday April 28 1987
iv) African Encounters, Thirteen S.A. Artists in New York (Catalogue); Natalie Knight Gallery Curates in New York
v) A homage to my father, Bill Ainslie; Sophia Ainslie; Course: Summer UEP 161; Professor: Louise Dunlop
vi) An artists workshop - flash in the pan or a brick that the builders rejected; Speech by Bill Ainslie; University of Cape Town (conference); July 1979
vii) Bill Ainslie's talent was in full flower; Hazel Friedman; The Star Tonight; Wednesday September 23 1992
viii) The Living Eye - a letter to Ngatane, Motjuoadi, Maqhubela and Sithole; Bill Ainslie; The Classic, Quarterly Vol. 1 No 4; 1965
ix) CV of Bill Ainslie
x)  Bill Ainslie; Speech by Jenny Stadler; Johannesburg Art Foundation; August 27 1990
xi)  SA artist wins European prize; John Dewar; The Star Tonight; September 21 1984
xii) Art of the matter lost at school; Sally De Vasconcellos; The Star; Thursday December 6 1979
xiii)  Visual explosion with the capacity to open the heart; Samantha James; The Star Tonight; Thursday July 10 1986
xiv) Introduction by Bill Ainslie to an exhibition at Art S.A. Today; Thursday September 14 1967
xv)  Catalogue for Exhibition at the Adler Fielding Gallery (JHB); October 1964
xvi)  The Pachipamwe International Workshop at Cyrene Mission 14th - 25th August 1989; David Koloane
xvii)  Tribute to Bill Ainslie; Sesame Jo'burg Literary Magazine; 1990
xviii)  Bill Ainslie; Pat Williams; Independent Newspaper; London; August 1989
xix)  Ainslie - nurtured art from Alex to Houghton; The Star Tonight, Friday September 1 1989
xx) Tribute to Bill at his funeral; Michael Gardiner; September 1 1989
xxi) Tribute to Bill Ainslie at his funeral; Lionel Abrahams; September 1 1989

People interviewed:
xxii) Fieka Ainslie – wife
xxiii) Anna Varney-Wong – student, friend and fellow teacher

Places visited:
xxiv) The Johannesburg Art Foundation (while it was still running)
xxv) Thupelo (while it was still running)
xvi) The Alexandra Art Centre (while it was still running)

Copy Right: Natalie Nolte

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