Ronald Harrison (b. 1940, Cape Town)
The Black Christ
1962, acrylic on canvas, 202 x 128.5 cm.
Iziko South African National Gallery. Photo courtesy of Iziko South African National Gallery. ©Ronald Harrison Estate.
In 1962, shocked by the violence of the Sharpeville Massacre and the banning of the ANC and the PAC, 22-year-old Ronald Harrison unveiled this painting in an unlikely exhibition space - St Luke’s Anglican Church, in the working-class community of Salt River. Little did he know that his painting would travel the world, and that it would be a thorn in the side of the apartheid government.
The Black Christ depicts Albert Luthuli, the banned president of the ANC, on the cross, with the architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoerd, and the Justice Minister John Vorster as Roman soldiers. Luthuli was Harrison’s hero. In 1961, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle against the apartheid system, becoming the first African to win the prize. The painting caused much controversy. It depicted Christ as a black man - which shocked a white apartheid society, who prided themselves on their Christian beliefs. Furthermore, because Luthuli was banned, his likeness wasn’t allowed to be shown in public. And rather than portraying white people as followers of Christ, it depicted them as the people who executed him. Harrison is comparing the suffering and martyrdom of Christ, to the oppression of black South Africans. Even though this painting was made by a person unknown in the art world, who couldn’t study Fine Art because of the colour of his skin, the apartheid government was angered by this painting, and they tried to destroy it. The Black Christ was one of the first South African artworks to politicize the Crucifixion. Harrison was subjected to cruel torture by the police for days on end. The painting was smuggled out of South Africa and toured across Europe, where it was exhibited across the continent to raise funds for the anti-apartheid struggle. Harrison had no idea what became of his painting after the tour until it was discovered in 1997 in the collection of an anti-apartheid activist. It was returned to the country in the same year. The Black Christ seems to eerily predict Luthuli’s death, as he died under mysterious circumstances in 1967.