Alfred Thoba
A somewhat solitary figure, Alfred Thoba regards himself as a self-taught artist although there is evidence that he had some brief tutelage in Swaziland and later under Bill Ainslie (1934–1989) in Johannesburg. Acknowledging this in an interview in 1990, he remarked that ‘I went to them with the knowledge; I was actually born with it’.1 He started painting full-time in 1974 after working for several advertising companies. At first concerned with erotic love in his paintings, a theme which he continues to revisit; the tenor of the times in South Africa caused him to switch to overtly political subjects. Read More…
