Jacobus hendrik pierneef biography sample
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PIERNEEF: AFRIKANER, SOUTH AFRICAN, AFRICANIST
PIERNEEF: AFRIKANER, SOUTH AFRICAN, AFRICANIST
Amanda Botha
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) is considered by many to be the quintessential South African artist.1 In a public opinion poll in search of the 100 most famous South Africans conducted by the South African Broadcasting Company in 2004, Pierneef was the only artist to feature on this list, albeit only in the 99th position.2 He is generally considered to be one of the best of the South African masters, and his work remains much sought after at art auctions, locally and abroad.
In 1948 Pierneef’s painting The baobab tree (1934) was shown in the Tate Gallery in London as part of a travelling exhibition named ‘Contemporary South African Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture’. Sixty years later, in 2008, the same painting was on auction at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London. According to the catalogue entry, The baobab tree has an “emblematic quality” of being “a magnifice
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Pierneef, A Passion for Landscape
www.straussart.co.za
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef; Bushveld Game Reserve
In the early years of the twentieth century, Pierneef, perhaps South Africa’s most iconic landscape painter, developed an ever-recognisable aesthetic, helped establish a local landscape tradition, and achieved enormous popularity and critical success.
Enormously prolific, the artist was equally comfortable working in oils, gouache, watercolour and casein, while the prints he produced, both linocuts and etchings, remain as influential as they are collectable. More than 50 years after his death, his works are still among the top selling works on auction, in demand locally and internationally.
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef was born on the Highveld in 1886 and attended the Staatsmodel School in Pretoria, but the family went into exile in Hilversum, in the Netherlands, during the Anglo-Boer War. A ung Henk was afforded late-night lessons in architectural drawing, and continued to refi
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Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef.
Widely considered to be one of the best old South African masters. He had a distinctive style, which made him one of the nation’s most recognisable artists and notably influenced by the diverse landscape on offer.
Born and schooled in Pretoria. The Pierneefs moved back to the Netherlands as a result of the Boer War – round two. He was a mere teenager at the time. The Rotterdamse Kunstakademie would become his new home, if it were. This became his meeting place. The works of the old masters left a big impression on him.
It was not long before he made his way back to South Africa. He was eighteen. Meetings with the Anton van Wouws, Hugo Naudes and Frans Oerders of the time inspired him. The former was also his godfather. George Smithard taught him the intricacies of graphic mediums like etching and linocuts.
He held his first exhibition with van Wouw and Naude in 1902. A success it was. The young Pierneef went on to work at the State Lib