Jacob Hendrik Pierneef - SWA Landscape
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef
South African 1886-1957
SWA Landscape
1923
signed and dated
oil on board
30 by 45,5cm excluding frame; 49 by 65 by 6,5cm including frame
Exhibited
Pierneef’s Kraal, Boland to Bosveld: Travels with JH Pierneef, Pretoria, 10 – 27 September 2026.
Pierneef arrived in South West Africa late in April 1923, staying initially with Toon van der Heever. He was immediately captivated by the endless horizons, the silence, the clarity and the colours of the landscape. He travelled the country extensively, worked breathlessly, and produced enough pictures over an eight-week period to mount a sell-out exhibition in Windhoek that opened on 20 June 1923. The majority of the pictures were small in scale – his travelling painter’s box could only accommodate small boards – and most were characterized by rich dusky and dramatic pinks and blues1, such as in the present lot. The anthill to the left of the picture plane is also an iconic feature of Pierneef’s South West Africa paintings at the time.
1 Alastair Meredith 2021 JH PIERNEEF: IN/SIGHT: A single artist auction dedicated to a modernist master. Strauss & Co publication, page 33.
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef
South African 1886-1957
SWA Landscape
1923
signed and dated
oil on board
30 by 45,5cm excluding frame; 49 by 65 by 6,5cm including frame
Exhibited
Pierneef’s Kraal, Boland to Bosveld: Travels with JH Pierneef, Pretoria, 10 – 27 September 2026.
Pierneef arrived in South West Africa late in April 1923, staying initially with Toon van der Heever. He was immediately captivated by the endless horizons, the silence, the clarity and the colours of the landscape. He travelled the country extensively, worked breathlessly, and produced enough pictures over an eight-week period to mount a sell-out exhibition in Windhoek that opened on 20 June 1923. The majority of the pictures were small in scale – his travelling painter’s box could only accommodate small boards – and most were characterized by rich dusky and dramatic pinks and blues1, such as in the present lot. The anthill to the left of the picture plane is also an iconic feature of Pierneef’s South West Africa paintings at the time.
1 Alastair Meredith 2021 JH PIERNEEF: IN/SIGHT: A single artist auction dedicated to a modernist master. Strauss & Co publication, page 33.
