Notes

Painted in 1945, this ethereal lowveld landscape displays Pierneef’s mastery of composition and subtle harmonies of colour and tone.

The iconic character of these leadwood trees (Combretum imberbe) in the foreground is faithfully rendered in a naturalistic manner and they serve as powerful pictorial devices, creating a strong vertical aspect, linking earth and sky, and creating tension in opposition to the horizon line. Radiocarbon analyses show that leadwoods easily live for several hundred years and the oldest specimen tested in a survey by the CSIR was more than 1 000 years old when it died.¹ Because the wood is so hard, dead trees can remain upright in the landscape for as much as 80 years, and they are consequently a common component of the bushveld landscape of southern Africa

Pierneef’s palette is restrained to tones of ochre, taupe, grey and russet, offset against the graduated blue backdrop of the sky. Eloquent line-work unites the elements and simultaneously describes the forms and volumes within the painting, while giving vitality to the composition. The boughs and branches of the trees intersect one another in a dynamic play of movement and in this way, under the artist’s brush, this poetic composition, sculpted in light has been crystalised in time.

1. JC Vogel and A Fuls (2005) ‘Life-span of Leadwood Tree’s, South African Journal of Science, vol 101, January/February, pp 98-100, available online at https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/handle/10204/1951?show=full