Dr HT Wangemann Sketches (1866-1885) (ADA Acc 29)

Abstract

This Wangemann Collection consists of photographs, negatives and copies of 151 drawings made by Dr Hermann Theodor Wangemann during his two visits to the country. The main themes of the sketches are landscapes and the Berlin Mission stations. The Wangemann sketches in our holdings are from the Berlin Mission Archives in Germany and the National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria. The Museum bought the 106 original sketches - 48 watercolours, 6 large watercolour studies in sepia, 1 full colour aquarelle, 48 lead pencil drawings and 3 ordinary pencil drawings - in 1954 from the Berlin art dealer, WA Luts.

Dr Wangemann (1818-1894) was appointed Director of the Berlin Mission Society in 1865. After his first visit to the Berlin Mission stations, he published a diary Eine Reise-Jahr in Süd-Afrika, in Berlin in 1868. In 1884, Dr Wangemann again visited the mission stations to celebrate the golden jubilee of the first Berlin Mission station in South Africa at Bethanie. Ein zweites Reisejahr in in Süd-Afrika, was published in 1886. Dr Wangemann’s sketches include drawings, among others, of the mission stations at Zoar, Amalienstein, Pniel, Bethel, Bethanie, Botsabelo, Zebedela, Wallmansthal, Herbertsdale and Mossel Bay.

The Wangemann drawings are of considerable cultural historical interest and have been of great value to researchers. Dr Wangemann sketched each station in detail and drew the topography of the area in which the missionaries settled. He also made sketches of the towns and the indigenous villages. All sites were meticulously described and dated.