Single-artist auction dedicated to modernist master Pierneef

Strauss & Co’s virtual live auction dedicated to JH Pierneef will take place on Monday, 26 July. The much-anticipated sale, which features a range of Pierneef artworks and books about the artist, is a highlight of South Africa’s art auction calendar.

“We have well over fifty works that will be up for auction,” Dr Alastair Meredith, senior art specialist from Strauss & Co confirms. “The artworks range from linocuts to drawings, watercolours and casein to museum-quality oil paintings. The auction encompasses an amazing range of works, not only in terms of medium but also price. Some of the prints start at R10 000,” he says.

Pierneef’s work has always sold well at auction. In recent years the artist has outperformed all expectations, on both the local and international art markets, as his cultural significance continues to grow. Pierneef’s influential prints are highly collectable and more affordable than the large oil paintings. His linocut prints have outperformed other traditional investments with their value-returning accumulation. Some of his well-known scenes in excellent condition are selling for way above their estimates and for far more than they were even a few years ago. They offer first time collectors an opportunity to invest in a major South African blue-chip artist.

Pierneef understood the true soul and essence of the African landscape and its topography. He painted a baobab as a towering, majestic leviathan and epitomised the essence of a wild syringa through cloisonné-like decorative linework. His cumulonimbus clouds are vast billowing structures, promising rain.
One of the auction’s significant lots is an oil painting titled ‘Clouburst Storm’. It’s one of Pierneef’s relatively late works, dating from 1952, but it’s a prime example of the artist’s transcendent ability to depict the majestic cloudscapes of the South African landscape. Meredith describes ‘Cloudburst Storm’ as an “immensely atmospheric painting ­– the viewer is confronted with moody, capricious storm clouds reverberating on the horizon. Then, in the foreground, the landscape is illuminated by the sun breaking through the clouds.” 

“One of my other favourites, which not only demonstrates Pierneef’s affinity for the South African landscape but also his ability to capture the mood of the landscape, is ‘Clouds over the Karoo’,” Meredith continues. Pierneef was influenced by the Impressionist’s and Post-Impressionists’ treatment of light. His ability to observe, understand and depict the light effects only found in Africa distinguished him from his European predecessors. His perception and understanding of the play between light and landscape made him one of the first artists to truly capture the essence of the African landscape. 

“Pierneef painted Africa. His landscapes were different from anything seen in paint before. Baines, Oerder and others had painted the same scenes, but Pierneef saw them with new eyes. He created a new style out of this new subject matter,” wrote Anton Hendricks, a close friend of the artist’s and a former director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

‘Clouds over the Karoo’ is an amazing vista of mountains, painted in hues of dove-grey, lavender and faded plum. The cumulonimbus clouds drift over the landscape and are architectural in their execution, reminiscent of “castles and mystic towers, legends in themselves”, as described by the artist’s biographer PG Nel. “They hover over the veld like mountains and bring a dramatic tension to static scenes. At times these heavy cloud masses are highly stylised or they form a stylistic unity with the landscape.”

This is the first time in years that art lovers will be able to view an extensive collection of Pierneef works ­in a single sale. “We would love to showcase this historic auction to as many art lovers and members of the public as possible. However, we support all efforts to flatten the curve and lower the Covid-infection rate and in-person viewings are subject to the current Covid-19 regulations,” Meredith says. “Nonetheless, we are compiling a virtual gallery with a high-tech Matterport camera, a three-dimensional camera system that creates realistic, fully immersive virtual experiences with state-of-the-art technology to enable visitors to experience a virtual walkabout through the collection, from the comfort of their own homes.” An interactive e-catalogue will also be available on the auction house’s website.

For more information or to register as a bidder, visit www.straussart.co.za