Strauss & co - 2017 Highlights

12 Woodbush farm  undated pencil on paper 62 x 73 cm A view over Chuniespoort  1945 oil on canvas 61,5 x 76,5 cm ‘Pierneef believed that there would be greater harmony and balance between architecture and environment if available materials such as stone, sand, wood and thatch were used in the building of dwellings. He was struck by the simplicity of the construction and appearance of the dwellings of the indigenous peoples.’ (PG Nel JH Pierneef: His life and his work 1990, p192). Pierneef’s mirroring of architecture and nature can be clearly observed in A view of Chuniespoort (1945). He devises a simplified, almost monochromatic palette that mimics the arrangement of the built rondavels, the trees and the mountains, and in so doing seamlessly harmonises landscape and architecture.