Julius Eichbaum

Julius Eichbaum (1933-1998) was a flamboyant businessman, publisher, cultural activist and opera-lover.

Also credited as Julius F. Eichbaum and J.F. Eichbaum

Biography

He founded the publishing house Seven Arts Publishers on 31 July, 1984 at 25 Cardiff Road, Parkwood, Johannesburg. On 13 January, 1987, he started the company J.F. Eichbaum Management [1], with Colin Charler Fraser Bearne and Priscilla Desiree Bearne.

In 1997 he was one of the three founder members of the Cat Federation of Southern African (CFSA)[2].

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Primarily known for his publication, through Seven Arts Publishers, of the very influential journal Scenaria (1977-1998) , and for his sharp and critical editorials and articles on arts and culture in South Africa.

(For a listing of some of Eichbaum's articles on the performing arts in Scenaria over the years, go to the ESAT Bibliography. Click HERE to go directly to the listing of his work).

Eichbaum’s real passion was opera, and he did much to support, review and promote this art form in the country. (And was always a noticeable presence at opening nights across the country and at Bayreuth and elsewhere.) For this reason too Eichbaum and the journal were at the forefront of all efforts to save the so-called "universal arts" (a term he himself coined to refer to the traditional European forms drama, classical music, ballet and opera) in the face of the pressures towards Africanization and the rejection of Eurocentrism in the 1990s.

He was inter alia instrumental in founding a national organisation to this end, and later was involved in setting up BASA (business and arts for South Africa).

His interest in arts in general also led to his involvement in the arts journal Gallery: the magazine of visual arts (a production of the National Arts Foundation of South Africa. Its purpose it to highlight the importance of visual arts to society. Its contents include tokens and coins, indigenous cultural crafts, paintings, and photography).