Pierneef

Today was the last day to view the largest collection of paintings and woodcuts by Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) ever gathered together in one gallery. We just made it in under the wire!

Jacobus Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef (usually referred to as Pierneef) was a South African landscape artist, generally considered to be one of the best of the old South African masters. His distinctive style is widely recognized and his work was greatly influenced by the South African landscape.

Most of his landscapes were of the South African highveld, which provided a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Pierneef's style was to reduce and simplify the landscape to geometric structures, using flat planes, lines and color to present the harmony and order in nature. This resulted in formalized, ordered and often-monumental view of the South African landscape, uninhabited and with dramatic light and color.

Most of the work presented belonged to private collectors. Others are found mostly in the permanent collections of foundations, corporations, and art institutions such as the Pretoria Art Museum, the Ditsong Museums of South Africa, the Iziko Museums, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The other main public repository for Pierneef's work is the La Motte wine estate's museum in Franschhoek. It must have taken a great deal of effort to assemble this exhibition! I am glad they did.

The inspiration for his individual style came from his studies of the primitive rock art of the San people, as well as the decorative art of the black peoples of Southern Africa.

At the same time, Pierneef experimented with Abstract Expressionism, Impressionism,  Pointillism and Cubism. But the influence on Pierneef’s work due to the exposure to the new art movements and trends in Europe was secondary to the artistic impression made by the indigenous art and landscapes of Africa.

His last work ...