Selected Publications
Anna Tietze is a South African art historian, writer, and curator with a focus on the history of art collections, museums, and visual culture in South Africa. She has written extensively on the development of public art institutions, including critical reappraisals of major collections like the Sir Abe Bailey Bequest. Her work often explores the intersection of art, colonialism, and cultural identity. A longtime academic and former lecturer at the University of Cape Town, Tietze brings scholarly depth and clear, accessible writing to both catalogue essays and broader historical analyses.
A History of the Iziko South African National Gallery
A. Tietze. University of Cape Town Press, 2017.
A History of the Iziko South African National Gallery considers questions of artistic and cultural identity, from the late 19th century to the present day. It explores how the gallery has understood its function and its public, as a ‘national’ gallery from 1930 and, before that, the chief gallery of the Cape Colony. This question is investigated through a study of the gallery’s administration, collection and exhibition practices over the last 150 years.
Photo-book: Photomontages 1981-95
J. Alexander and A. Tietze. Stevenson, 2016.
Jane Alexander’s Photo‑book: Photomontages 1981‑1995 (Stevenson, 2016), with Anna Tietze’s essay 'Of Beasts and Men', is a powerful collection that revisits Alexander’s early photomontages—works marked by cut‑and‑paste, re‑photography, and hybrid figures combining human and animal forms. Tietze emphasises how these striking images confront the violence of apartheid and political trauma. The ambiguous creatures and uncanny landscapes question the boundaries between self and other, men and beasts, showing how the grotesque can make visible what societies prefer to suppress.
The Abe Bailey Collection in the South African National Gallery
A. Tietze. Iziko South African National Gallery, 2008.
The complete, fully illustrated catalogue of the Bailey bequest, published in conjunction
with a major retrospective exhibition (curated by A. Tietze) of the Bailey gifts to the S. A.
National Gallery, 2008-9. An online version can be found at: https://abebailey.org/art/default.asp
The Knowledge Chambers: an Exhibition Series
F. Langerman and A.Tietze. University of Cape Town and PA and Alize Malan Trust, 2007.
Fritha Langerman’s The Knowledge Chambers (2007) was a visually striking exhibition that explored how we collect, organize, and make sense of knowledge. Instead of simply showing objects, Langerman placed them in unusual groupings that made us question how we normally understand facts and categories. The accompanying essay by Anna Tietze, 'What Makes Sense?', helped explain how the exhibition played with ideas of logic, meaning, and order. Together, the show and essay encouraged viewers to think critically about how knowledge is shaped and presented.
The Sir Abe Bailey Bequest: a Reappraisal
A.Tietze. Iziko South African National Gallery, 2001
Catalogue and catalogue essay published on occasion of retrospective exhibition of the Sir
Abe Bailey bequest, 2001, curated by A. Tietze.
The essay critically examines the bequest’s focus on British portraiture, landscapes, and sporting scenes, exploring what these choices reveal about power, identity, and taste in a colonial context. The result is a reflection on the role of museum collections in shaping cultural memory and national narratives.
The Sir Edmund and Lady Davis Presentation: A Gift of British Art to South Africa in the Permanent Collections of the South African National Gallery, Cape Town
H. Proud and A.Tietze. South African National Gallery,1999
Complete catalogue listing of the Davis gifts to the S. A National Gallery, with catalogue
essay by A. Tietze. Accompanied the 1999 retrospective exhibition of the Davis gifts to the
Gallery. Curators H. Proud and A. Tietze.
The Alfred de Pass Presentation to the South African National Gallery
A.Tietze. South African National Gallery, 1995.
Complete catalogue listing of the A. de Pass gift collection to the S. A. National Gallery, with
introductory essay. Published on the occasion of the first full retrospective exhibition,
curated by A. Tietze, of the de Pass gifts to the Gallery, 25/1/95-30/6/95.
