Black and White Fifties

During apartheid, Jurgen Schadeberg worked for the leading “black” publications of the time. This way he had access to the likes of a young activists, like the lawyer, named Nelson Mandela. Iconic pictures of many future South African leaders followed. Judge Albie Sachs, an ANC operative who lost an arm in an attack by the security police, says of this collection: “Jurgen Schadeberg wrenches moments and people right out of time, place and mood, so that we can engage with them here and now, as we are, at the instant of looking. We gasp and feel a frisson of delight at each picture. Was it really like that? Look at the faces as they were then, the hairstyles, the clothes people wore, the way they looked at each other. What is still the same, what has changed? There is the honesty of values, the dignified and respectful treatment of the subject matter and especially the people who might be involved. In this respect Jurgen’s photographs are extraordinarily sensitive.”