Pierneef, draw me a Tree

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The tree of Jacob Hendrik Pierneef is powerful. Its huge trunk rises right to the sky. At the top, its branches without leaves are shaped as a crown in which experts from Bonhams saw the influence of Art Nouveau style.

These paintings, made around 1934, indeed show baobabs. It stands at the center of the image, well highlighted by elements of the surrounding countryside. On 10 September 2008, Bonhams sold in London at £ 826 K premium included a large oil on canvas, 112 x 142 cm. The country is dry, with two farther baobabs and some distant mountain. Five tiny figures at the foot of the tree provide the scale.

On 20 and 21 October in Cape Town, Stephan Welz in association with Sotheby's is selling a work of very similar design. The central baobab is one of its kind, surrounded by a more attractive meadow. This monstruous tree seems almost smiling.

The dimensions of this painting are not yet published. It is estimated 2.4 MZAR. Converting in the same currency Bonhams' Baobab discussed above, there are 12.4 MZAR.

Pierneef deserves to be better known. The desert landscapes of his country, South Africa, are strange and beautiful.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Good result for this Baobab painted in 1946, sold 3.1 MZAR including premium, around the high estimate. This painting 45 x 60 cm could not compare (besides the subject) to the exceptional work sold by Bonhams in 2008.