As you head up Graaf Reinet’s main road, there’s an impressive church but the one we want is just before you get to it, in a lane on the right. In there are the reasons for my journey. Completed in 1931, they hung in the concourse of the brand new Jo’burg station. They were meant to encourage the railway commuter to buy the long distance ticket and see the scenic virtues of South Africa. They got dirty and after some restoration by the artist went to the Jo’burg Art Gallery. And then in 2002 they were installed in the Pierneef Museum in Graaf Reinet, under the care of the Rupert Art Foundation.
die Pierneef kerk
There are 28 landscapes and four small vertical panels of indigenous trees. I’ve spent a bit of time in here and every time I see the work again I marvel at the achievement. This isn’t the Sistine Chapel, but it is a remarkable body of work for two reasons: It was completed in a three year timespan, travels included, and without the aid of colour photography as a reference. [Us modern painters are hopelessly dependant on our digital cameras. Oom Henk worked up his paintings from dozens of sketches and watercolours.] Secondly, the aesthetic of Pierneef was developed in virtual isolation. Most major modern artists and styles emerged out of some sort of collective effort. Pierneef ‘s response to the landscape didn’t build on an existing local tradition. It seems to have come out of nowhere.
the inner sanctum
Travels with Pierneef 
2 comments
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13/08/2010 at 02:31
Noel Hodnett
Pierneef’s paintings have an uncanny stylistic similarity to those of some of the members of the Canadian Group of Seven created around the same time. The works, although created in countries far apart of very different landscapes, have a distinctive Art Deco design quality to them. This is worth further investigation.
29/08/2010 at 14:05
Glen Hartman
Oom Carl
You have an uncanny understanding of the urban structure of rural villages and the spaces between. A good reason for me to follow your travels. JM Coetzee did a good treatise on South African Landscape. With political overtones, but it comes with the terrain? Include a map of your route for us less literates?
Glen