Bringing Cecil out of the closet: Negotiating portraits of Rhodes at two South African universities

Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town each acquired keynote sculpted portraits of Cecil John Rhodes in the early twentieth century. The focus of this article is on the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the two works and how they have been negotiated in a post-apartheid context. Although its name was devised primarily as a means of acquiring monies from the Rhodes Trust, Rhodes University College (which became Rhodes University in 1951) subscribed to Cecil Rhodes' values and ideals. A marble bust of Rhodes by Henry Pegram, acquired in 1907, was displayed in such a way that the university not only revealed its imperialist beliefs but also created the impression that it had been founded as the outcome of the mining magnate's wishes. Yet the sculpture's placement in storage in the late 1990s was not motivated by transformative agendas, and was instead—paradoxically—part of an endeavour to counter arguments about a pressing need to rename the institution. There appears in fact to be uncertainty on the part of Rhodes University about how to manage a connection to the historical figure of Cecil Rhodes which it had forged carefully since its founding, but which no longer served its interests in a post-apartheid context. A portion of land from Rhodes' Groote Schuur estate was allocated for the establishment of the primary campus of the University of Cape Town, and the buildings were ready for occupation in 1928. A bronze sculpture of Cecil Rhodes by Marion Walgate, paid for by the Rhodes National South African Memorial Committee and completed in 1934, was originally positioned at a lower point of the campus than where it is currently. Relocated to its current location in 1962, it provided the magnate with an especially lofty vision of his domain. But rather than signifying antagonism to transformative initiatives or encouraging single-minded admiration for Cecil Rhodes and his legacy, the retention of the sculpture in this prominent position has provided a forum for some critical engagements with institutional histories and a public art inheritance.