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Newsletter- April 2011
Willem
Boshoff painted Hyde Park Mall
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The Glass Ceiling
February 3, 2011
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Sculptor
Willem Boshoff and his daughter Karen created Hyde
Park’s Word Clouds, joining the world of artists,
designers and architects embracing glass like never
before.
His work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian in
Washington DC and at countless other galleries
around the world – in São Paolo, New York, Madrid,
Copenhagen, Venice and Rotterdam.
Now sculptor Willem Boshoff ’s art is a permanent
fixture at the new-look Hyde Park Shopping Centre in
Johannesburg.
While exhibiting original art is nothing novel
for Hyde Park, this work requires you to look up:
it’s an integral part of the recently renovated
skylights. Willem and his graphic designer daughter,
Karen, have created “lexicon clouds” – clouds made
up of words that humorously describe manias and
phobias – on the glass panels.
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“Why Boshoff you may ask?”
His work is usually
political, religious and – for some – offensive. These
creations, however, are slightly ironic and definitely
come from a place of comical self-mockery. The wit is in
the meanings of the words, which all ironically
reference phobias that may apply to the shoppers below.
There’s chrematomania, the obsessive desire for money;
carphology, a frantic desire for freedom; and cacophobia,
the fear of ugliness – to name but a few.
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Skylights will
save energy
The new glass skylights are not just for
decoration, however – they will also assist in the
mall’s energy-saving efforts.
The double-glazed glass, which comes from the
Smartglass GraphixArt range, increasingly popular in
South Africa, comprises two skins of 8mm and 6mm
glass separated by a gap that includes microscopic
insulating layers. This will help keep the centre
cool in summer and warm in winter. Frits fitted into
the glass will also control the light coming into
the building.
“A frit,” explains Steven Riley, Development
Executive at Hyprop Investments Limited, is “a
symmetrical pattern of dots intended to regulate the
amount of sunlight that penetrates the glass. The
more dots you have, the less light comes in, and
vice versa.”
Willem and Karen were essentially commissioned to
create a frit pattern – although one with a
difference.
Overwhelming
response
So have customers noticed this light hearted new
look?
“There has been an overwhelming response,” says
Steven. So much so that Hyde Park will be printing a
small dictionary of the words that appear in the
artworks, which customers will be able to collect
from the new concierge desk that has been added as
part of the centre’s makeover.
All refurbishments at the mall are due to be
completed in February 2011, and these skylights are
just the first in a series of art exhibitions
planned.
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West says: "I liked to add this to our
Newsletter this month because of it's
significance. It's a new way of marketing our
South African artist and incorporating this with
Eskom's power saving project. We can do the same
in our homes by putting a sky light in that dark
passage or living room and painting good words
of influence on them. Enjoy this project with
me!"
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“What
to look for in Old Masters”
Series
1 of ...
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It
was a chilly morning on the 19th of April
2011, when I visited Oom Jan Middeljans at the
National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria. Oom
Jan Middeljans is a curator and restorator at this
Museum. Oom Jan Middeljans has restored many a
Pierneef, Maggie Laubscher, Irma Stern, Frans Oerder,
W.H. Coertzer and many more. He can restore any
“painting-gone-bad” to a master piece again. He was
dressed in his white scientist looking jacket. He is
a little over 1.8meter tall and has the look of a
knowledgeable man. When one looks him in the eye,
one can almost disappear in his light blue eyes. He
is a very gentle man. There is a certain sense of
authority to him.
When he
speaks, he speaks in a calm deep tone looking at you
down the edges of his studying glasses. He has a
strong Netherlands ascend. The charisma attached to
him is almost that of an English sir although he
comes from the Netherlands. Oom Jan and I gave each
other a welcome handshake and walked to the vaults
of the Museum.
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Oom Jan Middeljans
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Just before we entered the vault,
Oom Jan flashed his high level security access card
and the door opened softly. Inside this vault was
the biggest collection of bronze sculptures and old
master paintings that I have seen in my 7 years in
South African Art.
It was as if Oom Jan Middeljans
was in his natural habitat. He looked collected as
he started with the history of each significant
sculpture and painting. We talked about his personal
experiences with some of these pieces of original
art. He is also the appointed advisor to the
Museum’s CEO and he does the buying of these art
pieces through an established budget by the South
African Government. This is the start of our visits
and his personal stories regarding original South
African Art.
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Sculptures of Anton van Wouw
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Anton van Wouw was born the
20th of
November 1862 in
Driebergen and
passed away the 30th of July 1945 in
Pretoria. Anton van
Wouw was a
Dutch-born sculptor
regarded as the father of
South African
sculpture. He was
well known for his monumental Statue,
commissioned by Sammy Marks, of Paul Kruger on
Church Square in Pretoria, South Africa.
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Statue of Paul Kruger on Church Square by Anton
van Wouw
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Here are some of the sculptures that can be seen
at the
National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria,
South Africa.
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Paintings of J.H.
Pierneef and Frans Oerder
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. “The circles and cycles
that are seen in so many paintings of Pierneef
was so typical of his works” said Oom Jan. “He
painted mountains, landscapes figures and trees,
but he was brilliant with his tree studies. His
dad wanted him to become and architect, but he
didn’t want to. What he could do was to draw
geometrically. And this was portrayed in so many
paintings, some of which were to abstract for
certain critics and he returned to his well
known scenes.” Added Oom Jan
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Pierneef 1928 Abstract work
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Pierneef 1928 Abstract work
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“Was this the same geometrical lines that we see
in some of the paintings of William Kentridge?”
I asked Oom Jan. “Yes.” Replied Oom Jan. “It was
almost as if Pierneef wanted to show off his way
of thinking and composing each painting to the
general public in this series. Some of
Pierneef’s works, as seen here, are the same as
what William Kentridge did and that was to draw
in the lines, corners and angels of what they
saw in nature that applied to their specific
paintings. These lines show how the artist
composed the painting. Where the lines of focus
points meet, from where he most probably started
each specific painting and so forth. It all is
ways of seeing and looking at a painting. It
shows why that specific painting makes sense to
us without we necessarily knowing “what to look
for” in a painting. “It’s all about eye
pleasing” said Oom Jan. “Pierneef knew just how
to please the eyes of the collectors in South
Africa. This bothered some people and they asked
him to keep these geometrical lines out of the
paintings but not to keep the techniques he
applied, absent.” continued Oom Jan.
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Pierneef 1914 lanscape with small skies.
Oerder influence
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Pierneef 1920 large lanscape
Oerder influence
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Pierneef 1917 large landscape with Oerder
influence
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As we gazed at these
paintings Oom Jan continued with even more
interesting facts about this brilliant artist,
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. “Proportions, identity,
technique and heritage where very important to
Pierneef. This is why we find that this Museum
invests so much in his art because Pierneef
recorded farms, mountains, trees, figures and so
much more that is unique to South African
culture and history, in his original paintings.”
Tells Oom Jan. He said that each culture likes
to see art of scenes of which he/she can say:”I
like this because it shows so much of what is
defining me” or “I like this because it shows a
picture of where I grew up or of landscapes that
I know in Rustenburg, Namibia, Transvaal, Karoo
or even the Cape.” This is what Oom Jan referred
to when he said that Pierneef’s art was pleasing
the eyes of his connoisseurs and this is what
differentiates Pierneef from other old masters
of his time.
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This painting is done of Meintjies kop in
Pretoria. Soutpansberg road runs just in front
of this small mountain today here is Pretoria,
South Africa. |
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“Frans Oerder taught Pierneef
how to capture the vastness of nature and of
South African landscapes. Frans Oerder painted
the first third to half of his paintings very
thick and heavy. He applied a bit more paint is
this area. Frans Oerder stroked with his small
brush or pallet knife a bit thicker strokes
here. This is something that can be seen in
Frans Oerder’s influence on Pierneef’s
landscapes. Frans Oerder sometimes made the sky
a little softer and lighter and Pierneef just
reversed this into his own style by later
focusing more on the skies than the landscape in
front. Frans Oerder spends more of his canvas on
the landscape as the sky. It added up to about
two thirds where we later se Pierneef reversed
the space spend on his landscape to one third
and the skies two thirds. They both captured the
open spaces in our South African landscapes so
well. This is one of the influences that they
had on each other. Frans Oerder passed this
Netherlands influence onto his South African
Landscapes and so did Pierneef after Pierneef’s
visit to the Netherlands in 1901-1902 because of
the second Boer war.” Told Oom Jan.
I then asked Oom Jan why
Pierneef’s legend grew to exceed that of Frans
Oerder’s. “Wasn’t Frans Oerder the tutor of
Pierneef and by implication the more renowned
artist?” was my question to Oom Jan. “We must
remember that Frans Oerder returned to Holland
in 1908/1910. He was in South Africa from 1890
up to 1910 and then returned later years and
died in 1944. This greatly influenced his fame
and showed later on in his prices.”Replied Oom
Jan. Frans Oerder joined the Boer forces as the
official war artist. He worked on a railway that
went from Pretoria to Mozambique in this time
with Cornelius van Gogh, the smaller brother of
Vincent van Gogh(refer to the March 2011
Newsletter for more reading of Vincent van Gogh)
to earn some money while capturing some of these
historical scenes. This caused him to study the
openness of our South African landscapes in
depth. It was the death of Vincent van Gogh in
1890 that “released” Cornelius van Gogh and
Frans Oerder to come to South Africa in search
of adventure.
To be continued on our next
edition of John West Art Galleries Art
Newsletter.
Written by John West Hendriks.
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West Says: "This was a very very exciting
visit at Oom Jan and the National Cultural History
Museum in Pretoria. He was so kind as to let me into his
pool of knowledge, and I really appreciated this. I
wanted to write something like this to educate you and
myself more and to preserve this knowledge and tales of
our old Master artists in South Africa for future
generations. We believe that the very existence of this
culture and history is at stake by the claims made by
our local government today. To lose all this heritage
of
the Boer Afrikaner people, and to all South Africans
will be tragic. Let's keep our precious history
preserved accurately and without political motivation as
I believe this article and series will show."
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Current
Newsletter SPECIALS !!!
Frans Oerder 60cm x 80cm
Blomme studie R160 000-00
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"John
West Art Galleries has a collection of Old Master Artist
painting as this Frans Oerder.
Call West on 082 929 5124
to view original art of Adriaan Boshoff, Otto Klar,
Errol Boyley, Tinus de Jongh, Christiaan Nice, Walter
Battis, Hugo Naude, Marie Vermeulen Breedt"
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Christiaan Nice 61cm x 45cm
Donkies R65 000-00
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Christiaan Nice 61cm x 45cm
Hawe R65 000-00 |
Conrad Theys 76cm x 60cm
Kokerbome R250 000-00
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Art
for the home owner and decorator:
Just arrived Student Art
range.
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Student Art
103cm x 103cm
Straat 2 R4900-00
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Student Art
103cm x 103cm
Straat R4900-00
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Student Art
103cm x 103cm
Tulips R4900-00 |
Student Art 103cm x 103cm
Venice R4900-00
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Student Art
103cm x 142cm
Verkeer in Straat R6900-00
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and Conditions:
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Deposit payments on delivery/collection, Subject to
availability of stock.
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We
hope that you have picked up some new information that will
help you in your choice of art for the year still ahead. Go
now and visit
www.johnwestart.co.za and
have a peek on what's changed on our website!
Till
Next time"
John
West Hendriks-CEO of John West Art Galleries |
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