Strauss & co - 2017 Highlights

1 JH Pierneef is one of the most recognised South African artists and painted his very distinctive landscapes during the first half of the 20th century. His work often features in the media, especially after art auctions where the headlines usually report that the most expensive work sold was a Pierneef. Questions that often confront a collector are how to choose the artists whose work one should collect: what makes an artist or an artwork collectable, why do certain artists’ works command such high prices and are the most expensive works necessarily the best that one can buy? These questions are therefore particularly relevant to his work. I often mention the visual and emotional impact his works have on me, his absolute mastery of his medium and subject matter. For me it is about the work of art itself, its beauty and the spirit it captures. Pierneef masterfully deploys his visual dexterity to subtly create an emotional response that resonates with the core of one’s being. His harmonious portrayal of the South African landscape has a rhythmic timelessness and is underscored by a deft and disciplined geometry and balance. These multiple layers initially create a simplification of visual impact while, at the same time, they accomplish a cerebral impact, a perfect depiction of how we see and experience pristine nature. It is with seeming ease that Pierneef so expertly composes his trees, mountains and clouds to attain a perfectly natural looking environment, in much the same way as Japanese master gardeners attain a high level of perfection. Similarly, Pierneef’s graceful proportions act as an invisible finger pointing to what nature has to offer, and illustrate the underlying unity of the components that lead to personal reflection. More than anything else Pierneef’s landscapes pose philosophical questions for us to ponder. I believe that every work an artist creates is to a large extent a self-portrait of sorts. Pierneef was brought up in a Dutch/Afrikaans home, and from an early age was surrounded by such artists as Anton van Wouw and Frans Oerder, who were family friends. Although he decided quite early on in his life to be an artist, evidence suggests that he was also actively involved in Afrikaner cultural organisations. If one considers his entire body of work it would be fair to say that, with a few exceptions (done mostly on commission) his works are never overtly political or aimed at social commentary. In fact, if he wishes to make a statement, whether in a realistic or abstract way, it is about the beauty and majesty of nature, its trees, rock formations, mountains, clouds and rivers. While doing so, he was also in communication with fellow artists, locally and internationally, and one can see in his developmental phases the impact of various international movements, such as Impressionism, Pointillism and Cubism. In Pierneef’s work, though, his interpretation of these styles is always subservient to the dominance of the subject matter and imbued with his own unique style. Where architecture, a clear love of his, is introduced, it is often with an emphasis on a line or a structure, contrasting or complementing its natural environment. Pierneef’s work invites contemplation and offers a refuge from the business of our daily lives. His landscapes transport us to a place where nature is at work and the role and impact of man on nature is diminished. A wishful state, far removed from today’s reality of climatic changes brought about by man’s destructive nature. Anton Taljaard Pierneef A Collector’s Passion