Dr. Esther Mahlangu

The stylish Dr. Esther Mahlangu seen here at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, photographed by Travis Fullerton.

In Ulli Beier’s book Contemporary Art in Africa (published in 1968), Dr. Esther Mahlangu was discovered on a page right next to fellow South African artist Francina Ndiwande. They were the only Black women artists mentioned. That already sounds inaccurate.
A whole entire continent and just two women to document?
Well, Dr. Esther Mahlangu is a dynamic force based in South Africa, incorporating her Ndebele heritage into the traditional forms of abstract painting— bold black outlined geometric shapes filled with matte colors. She uses no instruments to achieve these perfectly straight measurements. It is all intuitive mastery. While this fascinating nonstop working artist has painted on canvas, ceramics, and walls, she is proudly displaying (honoring and carrying too) indigenous culture on huts, government buildings, cars, and even the wings of airplanes.

Dr. Mahlangu was born on November 11, 1935, the first of nine children on her parents farm in Middleburg, now named the Mpumalanga province.

'I was taught to paint by my grandmother and my mother,’ remembers Dr. Esther Mahlangu. ‘I would continue to paint on the house when they left for a break. When they came back they would say: what have you done child? Never do that again! After that, I started drawing on the back of the house, and slowly my drawings got better and better until they finally asked me to come back to the front of the house. Then I knew I was good at painting.’

Dr. Mahlangu began mural painting as a teenager, eventually marrying and having three sons. She worked for the Botshabelo Historical Village from 1980-1991, a prominent figure inspiring young and old with her inherent knowledge, painting the town Ndebele. Her career took off when traveling curators from Paris, France’s The Centre Pompidou came across her painted house (Mahlangu’s painted textile huts are legendary around her rich, humble village) and offered her a space in The Magicians of the World exhibit in 1989 (showing with Louise Bourgeois, Nancy Spero, Nam June Paik, and other famous global artists). This would eventually lead to Dr. Mahlangu being invited to design a BMW car in her signature style— the first woman, the first Black woman in fact given that honor.

Mahlangu painting during her time as an artist-in-residence at Virginia, photographed by David Stover, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

"Dr. Mahlangu was the first person to transfer the traditional Ndbele style of mural painting to canvas. She painted her geometric patterns on a BMW 525i in 1991, becoming the twelfth artist and first woman to take part in the BMW Art Car Project after figures such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. In the years that followed she exhibited work in countries around the world, from Mexico to Switzerland to Australia."

Please watch the clip of Dr. Mahlangu painting on her BMW on Design Boom.

Dr. Mahlangu's BMW 525i, front view of the vehicle, 1991, documented by Phillip Papeman.

Dr. Mahlangu's BMW 525i, side view of the vehicle, 1991, documented by Phillip Papeman. 

Dr. Mahlangu's BMW 525i, artist inside interior of the vehicle, 1991, documented by Phillip Papeman. 

Dr. Mahlangu's BMW 525i, artist signing the vehicle, 1991, documented by Phillip Papeman.

Although Dr. Mahlanga's BMW 525i car will always be intended as an art piece and not driven on the road, it is a beautiful testament to restoring ancient traditions into the contemporary technology age, transforming what was done by careful, attentive hands in beads and paints onto a moving modern transportation.

Mahlangu painting on a Fiat. 

Dr. Esther Mahlangu received an honorary doctorate from the University of Johannesburg on April 9, 2018 and the French Order of Arts and Letters (the fifth South African and second Black woman artist after Zanele Muholi to receive the prestigious honor) in 2019. She has collaborated with the likes of Nelson Mandela, exhibited all over the globe, and can be seen collected in the United States, South Africa, Germany, Japan, etc. (Oprah Winfrey, Usher, John Legend among them).

Mahlangu painting ceramics, photographed by Patrick McMullan for CNN, November 8, 2016. 

"As the children grow up today, they're losing their culture. I don't want my culture to die. that's why I teach children Ndebele art. They must know their culture and where they came from--"  Dr. Esther Malangu.

Dr. Mahlangu continues making work and teaching (with her own personal funding) to this day.