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Excerpt from Photo book! Photo-book! Photobook! by Sean O'Toole published by A4:

The Cape Town architects Gwen and Gabriël Fagan collaborated on numerous book projects over more than half a century, many with a focus on Cape architectural heritage. Church Street in the Land of Waveren (1975) is an illustrated review of their architectural restoration of historical buildings on Church Street in the farming town of Tulbagh, while Brakdak (2008) describes the flat-roofed vernacular architecture of the Karoo. The organisation of the latter book, which features photos taken by Gabriël between 1959 and 1964, more closely resembles the modern photobook with its defined hierarchy of image over text.

The Fagans’ deep commitment to research and use of the book as a vehicle to share it is, however, best exemplified in Roses at the Cape of Good Hope. This self-published book traces its origins back to the restoration of the 18th-century parterre garden at Government House in 1968, when Gwen learnt about the old roses that once thrived in the early settler colony. South Africa traces its origins back to the establishment, in 1652 at Cape Town, of a victualing station for maritime traders en route to Asia and Oceania. Among the earliest priorities of the European settlers was the establishment of a garden along the water flow of Table Valley. In 1659, the first Dutch rose (Rosa centifolia) was picked.

One copy available

A curated selection of ceramic works from the Rorke’s Drift ELC Art & Craft Centre available in-store now

From 1963, when he conceived of a work made of a single gold fluorescent lamp installed diagonally on a wall, until his death in 1996, Dan Flavin produced a singularly consistent and prodigious body of work that utilized commercially available fluorescent lamps to create installations (or “situations,” as he preferred to call them) of light and color. Through these light constructions, Flavin was able to at once establish and redefine space

Series and Progressions

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An all time favourite in-store now 🧡

“From September 1993, I painted and drew my dogs. This took a certain amount of planning, since dogs are generally not interested in Art (I say generally only because I have now come across a singing dog). Food and love dominate their lives. I make no apologies for the apparent subject matter. These two dear little creatures are my friends. They are intelligent, loving, comical, and often bored. They watch me work; I notice the warm shapes they make together, their sadness and their delights. And, being Hollywood dogs, they somehow seem to know that a picture is being made.” ― David Hockney

David Hockney introduces his two dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie, in this delightful collection. The result of both sharp observation and affection, these paintings and drawings are lyrical studies in form and design. A text by the artist gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how to work with models that don’t necessarily want to sit still.

Launching this Saturday!

Photo book! Photo-book! Photobook! is the first sustained study of the South African photobook, tracing its difficult cosmopolitan emergence during the decades of apartheid (1945–90) and remarkable currency in photographic and artistic practices of the democratic era. It explores how the photobook entered the marketplace as a self-conscious, edited and designed object aimed at an urban readership. Introduced with an expansive essay on Ernest Cole’s House of Bo***ge (1967) and David Goldblatt’s In Boksburg (1982), two important photobooks with enduring significance, this book further profiles 43 significant photobooks published between 1956 and 2024. These book biographies explore the overlapping histories of censorship, propaganda, activism and creative experiment that characterised their production. Drawing on two decades of research, this richly textured account celebrates the dynamic role of the photobook in South African history and visual culture

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Made in collaboration with .coolbooks inspired by the catalogue for ‘The Cape Chair’ an exhibition held at the Stellenbosch Museum in April 1969 compiled by Hans Fransen