Nelson Mandela

Pencil Portrait by Antonio Bosano.

Nelson Mandela Pencil Portrait
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The quality of the prints are at a much higher level compared to the image shown on the left.

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A3 Pencil Print-Price £45.00-Purchase

A4 Pencil Print-Price £30.00-Purchase

*Limited edition run of 250 prints only*

All Pencil Prints are printed on the finest Bockingford Somerset Velvet 255 gsm paper.

P&P is not included in the above prices.

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In that period of time before his death, Nelson Mandella’s failing health provided the various factions of his family with an opportunity to reflect on his fathering of a nation at the expense of his paternal obligations. Prior to his conviction in 1962, Mandella had been on the run only to subsequently spend twenty seven years in prison. Despite his unprecedented achievements as a South African anti-apartheid activist, revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first to be elected in a fully representative, multiracial election, there remains the familiar ring of a dysfunctional family attempting to cope with an absent father.

The 94-year-old was admitted to hospital three times from the tail end of 2012 onwards prompting his grandson, Mandla Mandela, who is an ANC MP, to comment that; “We have been blessed as a family to have my grandfather all these years with us, and we have cherished every moment and continue to do so”. Reflecting further on the prevailing situation, he was moved to say that: “My grandfather has never belonged to us, he belongs to the country and the global community. His service has been inspirational, not just to us as a family but to millions around the world, and he continues to be an inspiration to us all.”

South Africa’s first family could never be described as ordinary. Mandela’s devotion to politics came at a high price. His children have recalled that, even when not in prison, he was emotionally cold and distant, seeing his role as disciplinarian and provider.

He has married three times and fathered six children. Three have died – one as an infant in 1948, another in a car crash in 1969 and a third from an Aids-related illness in 2005, According to some observers, the house of Mandela is divided against itself. They point to animosity between factions, in particular the descendants of first wife Evelyn, who died in 2004, and second wife Winnie, now 75.

Like most children of the 60’s, my introduction to Apartheid was gleamed from the daily news although I was also privy to the first hand accounts of a business associate of my father who moved to Capetown with his family after a promotion. Additionally, as one of my closest friends was black, I was already waging my own racial war at school most days, the periodic bruisings I displayed ample testimony to the raging conflict amongst young minds.

One of the earliest headlines I recall involved the cricketeer, Basil D’Oliveira, affectionately known as “Dolly,” who played 44 Tests for England, scoring 2,484 runs at an average of 40 and taking 47 wickets with his right-arm medium-pace bowling. Back in the 1960s, the majority of the British sporting public had never given so much as a passing thought to the terrible injustice of South African apartheid yet when they saw this quiet, unassuming man banned from playing the sport he loved just because of the colour of his skin, the British people gave their hearts to Basil D’Oliveira because they sensed that something was terribly wrong. An outstanding cricketer, he was banned from accompanying the English cricket team for its winter tour of 1968, and his sense of betrayal at the hands of the South African Prime Minister Balthassar Vorster struck a chord in the British Isles. Vorster’s apartheid policy was clear, namely the doctrine of white supremacy, and this doctrine would ensure that South Africa faced sporting isolation for a generation. Throughout the ensuing years, D’Oliveira would be compelled to accept his significant role in helping to create the conditions for the emergence of modern, non-racial South Africa.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/apartheid/

Recommended reading

Mandella – The authorised portrait (Mike Nicol)

Painstakingly researched, with the very best available pictures and documents sourced, this is both an outstanding tribute and an excellent resource for students of Mandella’s life upto and including his time as the President of South Africa. Events depicted include the pass-law demonstrations, Sharpeville in 1960, the 1976 uprising, and of course the Rivonia trial which led to the sentencing of Mandela and his co-accused to life imprisonment.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mandela/mandelahome.html

Commentaries include memories from those who knew Mandela best, including Walter Sisulu, Archbishop Tutu, George Bizos,& Helen Suzman. The photographic images range from the iconic to the enchantingly intimate, the set of pictures depicting Mandela, in the year of his release, meeting his infant grandson in the Transkei area where he grew up, an obvious example.

My wife bought me this book and I nearly died when I saw the retail price, until she relayed the actual amount paid. The price on the inside flap hadn’t been scissored so I should have known better.