Icons and archives: the Orpen lithograph in the context of 19^th-century depictions of rock paintings

Abstract

Joseph Orpen's 1874 journal article, including a testimony by Qing, one of the last Bushmen in the region, has become a foundational 19^th-century source for rock art research in southern Africa, and its illustrations have achieved iconic status. Against the backdrop of Orpen's images, I examine the pictorial qualities of four other 19^th-century depictions of rock paintings, namely those by John Barrow (1801), James Edward Alexander (1837), Thomas Baines (1849) and Otto Mäder (1908). This comparative visual analysis entails an exploration of the archive in an extended archaeological sense – one that seeks to make connections between pictures, documents and sites in the landscape. Each of these depictions reflects different pictorial attributes of the originals, while also embodying different attitudes towards the art, but do not carry the textual ‘authenticity’ of Orpen's copies.

Keywords:

• archives
• Bushmen
• historical copies
• icons
• Orpen
• rock paintings
• San

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Justine Wintjes

Justine Wintjes is lecturer in History of Art, Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand. [email protected]