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Through his training and volition Adams was a modernist and expressionist, but he remained – till the last – spiritually and politically contemporary.

 — Marilyn Martin

An Introduction to three works

As art historians from Marilyn Martin to Dr. Alice Correia have noted, Albert Adams was a remarkable artist. However, much like Ernest Mancoba, Adams was marginalised, living a life on the edges of the South African and European art establishments. His work, up until his death, in 2006, remained under-researched and under-appreciated both locally and internationally.

However, since 2016, there has been a growing interest in his extraordinary oeuvre, both in the UK and South Africa. In particular, recent interest in his work has been taken up by British-based art historians and curators such as Dr. Alice Correia, Dr. Elena Crippa, Cristine Eyene, and Dr. Greg Salter. In South Africa too, a growing body of research has been developed by Prof. Bronwyn Law-Viljoen and Elza Miles that adds to the work of Marilyn Martin and Joe Dolby. This suggests a significant shift in Adams’ importance, both locally and internationally. As the head of exhibitions at London’s Whitechapel Gallery (and previously the senior curator at the Tate Modern), Dr. Elena Crippa says, Adams’ work ‘is still very new and very exciting to me.’