An exhibition of works by exiled artist Dumile Feni, who left apartheid SA in 1968 and died in the US in 1991, will open in New York in May.

The exhibition, at the Grosvenor Gallery, opens almost 25 years after the artist died in that city and in the month that would have been his 75th birthday. He died just as he was planning to return to SA from exile. His body was returned and he was buried in Johannesburg.

Feni’s art has long been associated with the anti-apartheid movement, though he always maintained that he was never a political artist, only an artist.

Though his works have appeared in exhibitions in London and New York, this will be the first major retrospective since Feni’s death.

His works have been acquired by a number of galleries, including the SA National Gallery and the constitutional court.