Chris Jansen photo exhibition The last days of District Six

CHRIS JANSEN: DISTRICT SIX

Greyton Lodge is privileged to host the “The last days of District Six” exhibition of well known photographer Chris Jansen. Jansen resides on a small farm in the Riversdale district where he lives close to nature. The first “District Six” exhibition called “In Memoriam”, took place in 1985 and covers a period from the late fifties to 1971. He captured the lifestyle, character and environment of an area and era that is no more. Some of the photographs on display are originals from the book “Oos Wes Tuis Bes Distrik Ses” that he, together with Adam Small produced in memory of District Six.

Born in 1929 in Wageningen, Gelderland, Holland Chris Jansen studied engineering and commercial art during the aftermath of World War II. He then became interested in photography and worked as a photo journalist since his arrival in 1952 in South Africa. He produced several photographic Coffee Table Books and contributed to many of other publications. Chris Jansen is well known for his contribution to several books from the KWV regarding, sherry, brandy and then of course wine. This led to “Cape Winelands”, written and photographed by himself. Also by Jansen is “Face of South Africa”, a collection of photographs of South Africa, all in black and white (1972). “Paradise of the World”, “Oos Wes Tuis Bes Distrik Ses”, “Cape Dutch Houses”, and “Namaqualand: Thirstland in Bloom”, are some of his other publications.

He had several exhibitions over the years of which the “In Memoriam”(District Six), “South African Portfolio” by the Luga Group of photographers (Cloete Breytenbach, Chris Jansen and John Rubython), which was shown in Australia, South Africa, Argentine and Portugal. “Wijnland” a photographic essay in colour, the “Camphill” Exhibition and most recently, November 2009, an exhibition in Stellenbosch called “Woman”, covering a period of forty years.

Some views on the work of Chris Jansen:


Melvyn Minnaar - "For looking at the images now - you can see why he was so admired by his peers - and even younger photographers who nowadays work in an altogether different, modern digital medium (2009)


Maxwell Leigh – “While others may regard his work as art, though, Chris avoids applying the word to camera work. He regards photography as a medium of expression”.


O D Wolheim – “Jansen is rapidly becoming known as one of our topmost artists who uses a camera instead of a brush and palette”. (1983)


Madelein van Biljon – “Jansen has always had the ability to establish both mood and place in his pictures.”


Stephanie Baum – “Chris Jansen achieves an impressive tonal range and harmoniously balanced compositions in his landscapes,and “It is in his portraits that Jansen shows his real poetry” (1973)


Eldred Green – “..he uses what poets have used verbally for centuries because it pleases the ear and helps hold the attention, and that is rhyme, in its pictorial form called pictorial echoes.”