In Wyllie's Poort

In Wyllie’s Poort was painted in watercolour in 1947 by the South African female artist Gerda von Maltitz (1911-2006). Wyllie’s Poort is a narrow pass located in the Soutpansberg Mountains linking the town of Louis Trichardt (Makhado) to the town of Musina in today’s Limpopo Province of northern South Africa. The mountain pass was named after the Lieutenant C J Wyllie, the Royal Engineer who first surveyed the pass in 1904. The artist Gerda de Waal (nee von Maltitz) donated this work after an exhibition at the Macfayden Memorial Hall held on 15 to 27 November in 1947 to the University of Pretoria. Short Biography: Gertruida de Waal ( nee Von Maltitz) was born in Heilbron in the Free State in 1911. Although not formally trained as an artist, she studied History of Art in Bloemfontein and completed art classes with Sidney Goldblatt and she later became an art teacher at various schools in South Africa.