John Muafangejo - Judas Iscariot Betrayed Our Lord Jesus

Matthew 26.47-50, Matthew 27.3-5

This work is divided into two parts. On the right, a clean-shaven Judas is shown embracing Jesus while two bearded figures, with weapons in their hands and sheathed swords, look on. They must be part of the high priest’s entourage. Above are words from Luke’s Gospel (22:48). On the left Judas is shown hanging from a tree: three 1-rand notes (the currency of South Africa where the artist was born), the price of betrayal, can be seen below the foliage. The words on this side are non-biblical.

Commentary based on A Guide to the Methodist Art Collection.

Born: Ovamboland, Southern Angola, 1943

Died: Windhoek, Namibia, 1987

Early life

John Muafangejo was born in Ovamboland which stretches across the boundary between Angola and Namibia.

Education

After his father died in 1956, Muafangejo trekked across the border to Odibo in Namibia where he received a formal education at St Mary’s Anglican Mission.

The Namibian-born, Oxford-based art historian Orde Levinson explains that Muafangejo’s artistic roots lay partly in the cultural background of the Kwanyama tribe: “Kwanyama tribal life is particularly rich and sophisticated in its cultural ceremonies and games, and these undoubtably influenced and were echoed in Muafangejo’s approach to art.” His artistic roots were also nurtured by his uncle and by his church school. Father C S Mallory (later Bishop Mallory) sent him to study at the art school in the Swedish mission at Rorke’s Drift in Natal, South Africa, in 1967-68. Father Mallory also cared for him during periods of mental illness. Muafangejo maintained a great respect for church, impressed by the way in which local church leaders campaigned against apartheid.

Life and career

While Muafangejo was still a student, the art critic Edward Lucie Smith helped him to organise his first exhibition in Durban, South Africa. Throughout his career, he worked almost exclusively in linocut, producing powerful images depicting autobiographical, social, political and biblical events. He started to receive prizes as early as 1970 but in the 1980s his work achieved international recognition.

He printed and published his own work. The prints were made by hand, so no two prints are the same. The dust from his garage workshop would settle on the blocks after inking, accentuating the differences between each print. His use of text as part of the image was unique.

During his last few years, Muafangejo exhibited in major solo exhibitions all over the world. At an exhibition in London’s Commonwealth Institute in 1983, his work drew comparisons with David Hockney and with the German expressionist masters of woodcut, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

Muafangejo died suddenly of a heart attack in 1987, shortly after returning to Namibia from a successful solo exhibition at London’s Royal Festival Hall.  Soon after his death, his work was seen by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, when his images were used as a backdrop at the Wembley concerts celebrating the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela (1988) and Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa (1990). The same images were used a few years later during the Namibian Independence celebrations.

Muafangejo is now considered among the best exponents of the linocut in the 20th century.

Muafangejo has had major exhibitions all over the world. Collections which hold his work include the British Museum, London.

O Levinson, The African Dream: Visions of Love and Sorrow: The Art of John Muafangejo, (London, Thames & Hudson, 1992)

Seeing the Spiritual: A Guide to the Methodist Modern Art Collection, (Oxford, Methodist Modern Art Collection, 2018), p. 76-77