Artworks

The Constitutional Court Trust, on behalf of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, cares for an extraordinary collection of artworks, originally donated by prominent artists and other benefactors to celebrate the Court’s role in the transition to democracy.

The collection includes artworks by artists such as John Baloyi, Willie Bester, Marlene Dumas, Dumile Feni, William Kentridge, Judith Mason, Karel Nel, Cecil Skotnes & Hamilton Budaza, Sue Williamson, Anton van Wouw, Andrew Verster, and many others.

The collection was primarily assembled by Albie Sachs, who practiced as a judge at the Constitutional Court from 1994 to 2009. In 1994, Justice Sachs was appointed along with his colleague, Justice Yvonne Mokgoro, to take charge of decor when the Court was housed in rented accommodation, and proceeded with gusto. The Constitutional Court's entire original décor budget, the princely sum of R 10 000, was used to purchase a single work – Joseph Ndlovu's 'Humanity', a tapestry. Various South African artists and art patrons then proceeded to offer more artworks to the embryonic art collection.

Justice Sachs is fond of saying that the collection assembled itself:

"It was work that came to us... It is a collection that collected itself, and it is very much based on the passion and enthusiasm that the artists and arts community had for the achievement of democracy and what the Constitutional Court meant."

To learn more about the collection, please visit the website of the CCAC programme.