Abstract This article considers educational theory and practice within Michaelis School of Fine Art in an era of extreme political turbulence within South Africa. It argues that the title of director Neville Dubow’s inaugural lecture, “Art and Freedom”, offers a key to the central philosophy of the school. Profoundly influenced by modernist ideals, Dubow and others regarded art as above all a sphere of freedom from workaday social responsibility and conformity: this position was reflected in the school’s educational practice, in its embrace of non-figuration, its scepticism about overtly politically-engaged art, and its primary focus on fine art rather than functional design training. Tertiary art education for black students pursued an alternative educational model, and there were increasing calls for a socially-engaged art to confront the country’s crises, but in the face of all this, Michaelis, under the directorship of Neville Dubow, maintained a marked commitment to an art education that prioritised individual and subjective visions of freedom and protest above notions of collective thought and overt social comment.

中文翻译：

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艺术带来的自由：米凯利斯美术学院的教育政策与实践，1971-1989

摘要 本文探讨了在南非政治极度动荡时期米凯利斯美术学院的教育理论和实践。它认为，导演内维尔·杜博 (Neville Dubow) 的就职演讲的标题“艺术与自由”为了解学校的中心哲学提供了钥匙。受到现代主义理想的深刻影响，杜博和其他人认为艺术首先是一个摆脱日常社会责任和从众的领域：这一立场反映在学校的教育实践中，体现在它对非形象化的拥抱，对公开参与政治活动的怀疑艺术，其主要重点是美术而不是功能设计培训。黑人学生的高等教育追求另类教育模式，