Notes

Strauss & Co is delighted to be handling two remarkable paintings by Johan van Heerden, considered an important pioneer of nonfigurative art in South Africa. Known for his stainless steel, bronze and wood sculptures and many public commissions, Van Heerden’s oeuvre also extends to painting, drawing, graphic art and making jewellery. The two paintings on auction, Gog and Magog, were painted in 1966 and shown on a 2005 Retrospective Exhibition at the ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg.

Van Heerden studied in Paris from 1952, first at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and later at the École des Beaux-Arts. He returned to South Africa in 1955 and exhibited in Johannesburg at many well-respected galleries such as the Lidchi Gallery in 1956, Gallery 101 in 1965 and the Goodman Gallery in 1969. In 1956 he participated in the Guggenheim International Art Prize in Paris and New York – being the only South Africa artist represented. Van Heerden also represented South Africa at the Bienal de São Paulo in 1957, 1959 and 1973.¹

 

¹ Edward Russell-Wallng (1977). Johan van Heerden, Afrox 50^th Anniversary Publication, Johannesburg: Afrox Limited.

Exhibited

Johan van Heerden Retrospective Exhibition, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, 2005.

Literature

Video of Johan van Heerden Retrospective Exhibition, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, 2005: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T16XGxfpfM