GEOMETRÍAS :: Christa Zaat

Christa Zaat



Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (South African painter) 1886 - 1957
An Extensive View of Farmlands, ca. 1925 
oil on canvas
49 x 68 cm. (19.29 x 26.75 in.)
signed 'Pierneef' (lower left)
private collection

Catalogue Note Bonhams
A very similar work, Landscape, 1925, was illustrated in Twentieth century South African Art (Cape Town, 1966, pl. IX) and was sold at Sotheby's Johannesburg, 8 May 1995 (lot 230).

An extensive view of farmlands, with its patchwork of fields, mountains and trees, hints at Pierneef's later experiments with a more abstract geometric style in 1928. The geometric quality of this work, its simplicity of line and colour, can be ascribed to his graphic training. 1925 was a time of intense production for Pierneef, who spent the latter half of the year travelling and exhibiting in Europe. The influences of Art Nouveau, late Impressionism, and the landscapes of Paul Cézanne in particular, neo-Impressionism and of course Cubism are all evident in the present lot.

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Jacobus Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef (usually referred to as Pierneef) was a South African landscape artist, generally considered to be one of the best of the old South African masters. His distinctive style is widely recognised and his work was greatly influenced by the South African landscape.
Most of his landscapes were of the South African highveld, which provided a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Pierneef's style was to reduce and simplify the landscape to geometric structures, using flat planes, lines and colour to present the harmony and order in nature. This resulted in formalised, ordered and often-monumental view of the South African landscape, uninhabited and with dramatic light and colour.
Pierneef's work can be seen worldwide in many private, corporate and public collections, including the Africana Museum, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Gallery, King George VI Art Gallery, Pierneef Museum and the Pretoria Art Gallery.