Notes

JH Pierneef's Koringlande, Agter Paarl, painted in 1952, is a rare example of the artist's Cape landscapes, depicting a Cape Dutch farmhouse nestled amongst sweeping wheat fields at the foot of a dramatic mountain range which includes, from the left, Klapmutskop, Kanonkop and Simonsberg with the Stellenbosch mountains in the distance on the right.   Some of the farms situated in this area were planted with wheat and tobacco during the 1950s when wine proved unprofitable.

The success of Pierneef's painting is due in great measure to his extraordinary ability to harness keen observation and sound technical expertise to a profound knowledge of the South African landscape.   His architectoric approach to painting, which ordered composition by foregrounding its underlying structure, was ideally suited to capturing the vastness of the South African landscape that he loved so dearly.   Dutch artist and theorist, Willem van Konijnenburg, whose marked influence on Pierneef resulted in a greater abstraction of nature, was a great source of inspiration.   In a letter to the artist written in 1929, Van Konijnenburg offered the following encouragement:

'Perseverance takes root in the deep love the artist has for nature.  It is indeed this quality that pleases me so much, I feel that this love is present in full measure in you, in the painter Pierneef.' ¹

Pierneef's love of farms and homesteads was nurtured in part through his love of working the soil and of building, a skill he had learnt from his father, Gerrit Pierneef, a master builder and contractor.   By 1939 he had acquired a piece of land in the Pretoria district and begun building his own house, assisted by a local stonemason.   Built in the form of a kraal, his home was called Elangeni, the Zulu word for 'in the sun'.

A common feature in Pierneef's landscapes is brilliant light, which he employed not only as a means to articulate form but to imbue his landscapes with radiant light.   His devotion to capturing the strong local sunlight so unlike that of Europe, contributed in large part to the development of his characteristically South African landscapes.

Pierneef's stylisation of form was inspired as much by his studies of Bushman rock art as by his knowledge of European modernist trends.   Rhythmic bands of foreground ochre soil, the middle ground of wheat fields and the distant blue mountains, arranged in strong horizontal registers, achieve a perfect balance that enhances feelings of calm and tranquility.

The painting exudes an atmosphere of contentment and well-being, which the artist has achieved through his use of subtle, warm tones in simplified, broad planes,   Massing clouds forecast rain that is so essential for agriculture.   No sign of human activity disturbs the peace.   It is as if all the labour required for a fully functioning farm is at rest.   The result is an idyllic Boland scene.

¹PG Nel, JH Pierneef: His life and his work, Perskor, Cape Town, pp 76-77

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner's father