Joburg’s Art Gallery ‘can’t survive’ another season of ruin and rain

Experts warn mayor Dada Morero about threats to the city’s art collection. He says budget will only be allocated next year.
4 mins read

New and unseen images of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) reveal increasing ruin, while irreplaceable artworks, including pieces by South African greats like Irma Stern, may be damaged beyond repair. 

The parlous state of the building – and its precious collection – have now been brought to the attention of Joburg mayor Dada Morero, after being served a lawyers’ letter, on behalf of the Friends of JAG and the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF). But he’s told Daily Maverick that budgets to repair the gallery will only be allocated next year.  

In 2023, Morero – then in charge of city finances – revealed that the city had a R4bn per month operating deficit. While the city has since signed loans with a French development finance institution and the World Bank, its finances have worsened according to monthly municipal public accounts committee reports.   

As for the relocation of the JAG’s art collection, Morero says the city is “on the verge of signing an agreement with Ditsong [a public museum in Tshwane] that will guide the relocation and storage of the works”.  

A painting by Sir Philip Burne-Jones (1889), ‘George Frederic Watts Working on “Physical Energy”’ shows water damage and big crack down the middle of the painting. Image supplied

He has not given a date. However, he promised that the city will take a lead “in matters about the restoration of the building”, but did not say what this means. 

Yet this is unlikely to happen any time soon, given how the city’s budget process works. The city has “committed” that there will be a budget “made available for the first phase of restoration work” – but only in the 2025/26 financial year.  So, any work is at least a year away. 

This may well be too late for much of the art in the building, such is the extent of the damage. “Given the perilous state of the JAG building, the first priority is to get the collection to a place of safety as soon as possible to avoid further damage,” said the Friends of JAG and the JHF. 

Visible crack on a painting by Alfred J Munnings, ‘Skating at Flatford’. Image supplied

Letter of demand

This is why, in September, the Friends of JAG and the JHF, via law firm Webber Wentzel, served their first letter of demand to the city. Morero then met representatives of the JHF and Friends of JAG, but he has yet to commit to any action.   

The images shown here for the first time show what the Friends of JAG calls the “slow destruction” of the art gallery, thanks in part to a succession of botched restoration jobs to the historic Lutyens building in Joubert park. Because inferior roofing was used to replace the original clay roof, the summer rains cause major leaks, which have now turned to damp and black mould. Exhibition halls have turned into makeshift storage spaces. The city’s insurers have refused to pay for repairs because they say the space is no longer at museum standards for underwriting.   

The Meyer-Pienaar extension of the JAG has been completely bungled. Image supplied

In 2021, the Johannesburg Property Company “renovated” the award-winning Meyer-Pienaar gallery extension. Its copper roofs and vaulted ceilings were removed, and a rough concrete slab was thrown. The image shows what is left of the extension, which was abandoned by the city’s contractors. The JHF says some exhibition halls have been declared unsafe, with building rubble clearly still visible.  

The images also show the extent of damage to works by Irma Stern, Edward Burne-Jones, Alfred Munnings and the Old Dutch Master Peter Donckers de Rij. The surfaces of these paintings are cracked; paint runs in others. A signature piece is unsafely wedged next to a stack of photocopy paper. The contemporary star artist Nandipha Mntambo’s work, meanwhile, is suspended over a damaged floor.

“As a gallery, the JAG building is simply not fit for purpose. The roof leaks in several places, entire wings are closed because of damp and mould, exhibition halls are empty and show signs of major water damage. The storage rooms where the bulk of the collection is kept are also prone to leaks so each time it rains, there is a danger of further damage to the fragile artworks. We have heard of occasions where the gallery staff were called in the middle of the night to come and move paintings from one [room] to another because of water ingress. Clearly, we need to get the collection out of these unsafe conditions as soon as possible – especially since the rainy season is upon us,” said the Friends of JAG and the JHF in written answers to questions.   

Visible surface damage on the Old Dutch Master painting by Peter Danckerts de Rij, ‘Picture of the Artist’s Mother’ (1634). Image supplied

At a turning point

The mayor’s timelines have been met with disbelief. 

“The issues facing JAG have been well known for many years. We are now at a turning point. The collection simply cannot endure another year of damage from water and mould. The city’s plan would require extensive delays in order to allocate budget, issue tenders, select appropriate contractors, etc. We cannot wait another year or two before we see any action. The JAG and its important art collection need to be saved now!”

It’s not just the rain, though. The artworks, which are worth hundreds of millions of rand, are precariously stored in a building that is now in the middle of a high-crime area. In art terms, the storage conditions can be compared in health terms to an amputation.  

This painting was part of the foundation collection left to the citizens of Johannesburg by Lady Florence Phillips in the custody of the city council. Image supplied

Webber Wentzel’s Asmita Thakor says that if “urgent and immediate steps” are not taken to preserve the collection, “irreparable harm will continue to be caused to the artworks due to the structural defects and the City of Johannesburg’s failure to discharge custodial responsibilities over them”. 

So what should happen now? 

“Once the collection is secure [in storage at Ditsong], we can undertake a thorough examination of the Lutyens building by qualified heritage professionals in order to draw up a comprehensive scope of work. Then it will be a matter of finding suitable funders, project managers, architects to do the work,” say the Friends of JAG and the JHF. 

“In all, the process of properly repairing the JAG building is estimated to take three to five years. Once the building is repaired, the collection can return to Johannesburg,” they said.

The east wing of the JAG, where the ‘Curriculum’ exhibition is currently on show, shows visible water damage to the parquet floors. Image supplied

This special report on the Johannesburg Art Gallery is a continuing joint investigation by Currency and the Daily Maverick.

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Ferial Haffajee

Ferial Haffajee is an associate editor with an interest in cities reporting at the Daily Maverick.

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