PICTURING
PAINTING SOUTH AFRICA'S ARTISTIC LANDSCAPE BY ELSKE JOUBERT Throughout the centuries, South Africa has seen some remarkable works of art from incredibly talented painters. In this feature, we tell the tales of some of the country’s most highly regarded artists.
JH PIERNEEF Considered to be the father of South African landscape painting, JH Pierneef received a classic draftsman training in his youth when the family was in exile in the Netherlands during the Anglo-Boer War. This fact accounts for the highly structured nature of all his compositions of the carefully-executed Highveld landscape. He was inspired by the Dutch philosopher, Willem van Konijnenberg, who pointed Pierneef in the direction of the spiritual and symbolic aspects of painting. Pierneef was the first South African artist to capture the unique spirit of the land, unlike his predecessors and contemporaries who still relied on a European landscape tradition. Pierneef painted the famous Johannesburg Station Panels, unveiled in 1932, as well as the murals in South Africa House, London, unveiled in 1935. These can still be viewed at the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch.
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25 YEARS OF SUCCESS