oil on board

Signature details: signed with the artist's studio stamp bottom right; printed with the artist's name and the title on a label on the frame

(1)

40.5 x 55.5 cm

Notes:

Over and above a variety of wide-ranging official commissions that the artist received during his career, Pierneef’s enduring interest throughout his life was capturing and depicting the African veld in all its splendour – a fact unmistakably illustrated in this painting. The sheer majestic rock formations and multifaceted ruggedness of this Bushveld scene, in a region where Pierneef often set up camp, constantly challenged his creative eye. This work demonstrates the artist’s quintessential compositional balance and simplification of forms in the imposing panoramic expanse of the Limpopo valley, possibly in the vicinity of Pontdrift.The viewer is presented here with the artist’s perceptive use of selected compositional elements such as the granite and sandstone outcrops, cloud formations and scattered acacia trees creating a balanced and harmonious composition. Moreover, with his discerning colour sensibility, Pierneef truly understood the enduring effects of the sweltering midday sun, almost subtly whitewashing his palette to imitate the effect of the intense light and create a canvas of this significance.In early 1952 Pierneef was commissioned by the City Council of the capital city Pretoria to undertake a large painting to commemorate the city’s centenary in 1955. However, due to various commitments plus a looming retrospective exhibition which was organised for March 1953 in Potchefstroom, this commission was only completed in July 1954. Soon after, an exhausted Pierneef and his wife left the city on a four month vacation with friends to the Seychelles. In early 1955 with ever more pressing social engagements, Pierneef and four other artists took part in a film made by the South African Tourist Corporation (Satour) entitled South Africa: a portrait in colour, but soon after this project it became clear that the artist’s health was gradually fading. He withdrew more and more, leaving the city for painting trips to the Pontdrift region of the Limpopo valley, a landscape which he loved, where he could rest and paint at leisure in an environment in which he was comfortable and content. In all likelihood, the work at auction was produced during one of these trips. In June 1956, he again spent some time at Pontdrift where he made preliminary drawings for paintings he was commissioned to do for the 1957 Satour desk calendar. In July 1957, the artist undertook his last trip to the Pontdrift region. He passed away in Pretoria on 4 October 1957.

Eunice Basson