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Vanishing Villages – Beautifully illustrated 1976 Africana work by Tony Grogan capturing the historic villages, people, architecture and disappearing rural character of the Western Cape through evocative watercolours and drawings. Hardcover with dust jacket protected in plastic.
1 in stock
Tony Grogan’s Vanishing Villages is a beautifully illustrated and increasingly collectible work of South African Africana, capturing the character, architecture and everyday life of the small historic villages of the Western Cape. Through Tony Grogan’s distinctive watercolours, drawings and accompanying observations, the book preserves a visual record of communities and ways of life that were already changing rapidly when the work was produced during the 1970s.
Grogan turns his artist’s eye towards the quiet streets, cottages, churches, trees, landscapes and inhabitants of traditional Cape villages. His work is particularly effective in conveying atmosphere rather than simply documenting buildings. The illustrations of Vanishing Villages evoke the unhurried quality of rural village life and the relationship between people, architecture and the surrounding Cape landscape.
Among the areas and communities represented are historic mission settlements and villages such as Genadendal, Mamre and Wupperthal, together with scenes from the Sandveld and other parts of the Western Cape. Grogan’s combination of line drawing, watercolour and informal written observation gives the book the appealing character of an artist’s travelling sketchbook.
Published by Don Nelson in Cape Town in 1976, Vanishing Villages is an attractive addition to collections devoted to Africana, Cape architecture, South African social history, cultural heritage and South African art. Grogan’s illustrated books have developed a following among collectors, particularly because they record buildings, streetscapes and communities that have subsequently altered considerably.
Vanishing Villages is a substantial landscape-format hardcover and an excellent visual record of a rapidly changing South African cultural landscape.
Condition – Very Good
Olive-green boards remain clean and attractive with only minor edge/corner wear. Dust jacket shows some age-related handling and light general wear and has been covered in protective plastic, which has some visible rippling/creasing.
