IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF at STRAUSS & Co
Strauss & Co has announced their single-artist auction devoted to South Africa’s most renowned and iconic painters, JH Pierneef. The selection of works gathered for IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF, a first-of-its-kind auction dedicated to this modernist master, includes paintings, drawings and linocuts made through the first half of the twentieth century. Dr Alastair Meredith, head of Strauss & Co’s art department, will conduct the live-steamed auction from Johannesburg on Monday, 26 July 2021 at 6pm.
“By presenting over 50 examples, made over almost half-a-century, individual works are better contextualized,” says Meredith, an authority of early twentieth century South African art. “My hope is that this focused sale will provide collectors with a sense of the development of this artist’s remarkable career. Pierneef’s deep affection for the soil, his keen sense of balanced design and his flair for the dramatic and monumental make his pictures at once familiar and enthralling.”
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef - Acacia in the Veld. Oil on board. R1 500 00- R 2 000 000
Bushveld Tree. Oil on canvas. R1 000 000 - R1 500 00
View of Pretoria through Trees. Etching on paper. R50 000 - R60 000
Pierneef’s principal subject was the South African landscape. He is best known for his depictions of vast and breath-taking vistas, lonely farmhouses, architectonic cloudbursts and moving bushveld silhouettes. The lots featured in IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF encompass all these subjects and showcase his proficiency with oil, casein, watercolour, pastel, graphite, etching and linocut.
The two premier lots are oils that date from the two different decades of Pierneef’s prolific career.
Cloudburst Strom. Oil on canvas. R1 000 000 -R1 500 000.
Stad in Basotho Land. Watercolour and pencil on paper. R250 000 - R300 000.
Clouds over the Karoo. Oil on canvas. R1 800 000- R2 400 000.
Ou Poortjie, Stellenbosch. Linocut on paper. R20 000- R30 000.
“IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF is a wonderful opportunity to see and appreciate the work of a single artist without distractions,” says Susie Goodman, an executive director at Strauss & Co. “It also presents an opportunity to a wide range of collectors, from the young collector hoping to acquire an early linocut, to the seasoned collector interested in a distinctive territory, style or medium – as is offered by his dazzling, small-scale caseins, of which the sale includes a remarkable 1924 work depicting the magnificent peaks of Jonkershoek.”
Silent Sentinels, Omatako, SWA. Oil on board. R400 000-R600 000.
Erongo Mountains (SWA) Oil on canvas laid down on board. R300 000- R500 000.
Landscape with Rocks and Trees. Oil on board. R1 800 000- R2 400 000.
IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF acknowledges the current huge demand among collectors for works by Pierneef across all price points.
Camp Tent. Oil on canvas laid down on board. R150 000- R200 000.
Rooiplaat. Oil on board. R400 000- R500 000.
Landscape with Trees and Aloe. Oil on board. R1 200 00- R1 600 000.
JH PIERNEEF will be presented as a live-streamed auction through Strauss & Co’s website.
This single-artist auction will commence of Monday, 26 Jul 2021 at 6pm.
VIEW LOTS: https://www.straussart.co.za/auctions/browse/26-jul-2021/1/1
E-CATALOGUE: https://www.straussart.co.za/auctions/catalogue/26-jul-2021/1
Jacobus Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef (usually referred to as Pierneef) (13 August 1886 – 4 October 1957 Pretoria), 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.
