Karoo Afternoon

An oil on Canvas titled, Karoo Afternoon painted in 1920 by the South African artist JH Pierneef (1886-1957). During the late 1910s, early 1920s Pierneef went on a tour of South Africa to paint. This mountain was painted with the late afternoon sun shining on it. The mountain itself is called “Koffiebus” translated as Coffee Container. It is situated between the towns of Steynsburg and Middelburg in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa in the Karoo which is a semi-desert area of the country. Short Biography: Jacob Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef was born in 1886 in Pretoria, South Africa. As a child, he studied art at school, along with other students who would later become well-known artists, such as Fanie Eloff for sculpture and Gordon Leith for architecture. In 1900, Pierneef went with his parents to The Netherlands as a means to avoid the hostilities of the South African War (1899-1902) where he studied at the Rotterdam Art Academy. Pierneef returned to South Africa in 1904 and studied under the prominent artists Anton van Wouw, Frans Oerder and Hugo Naude. In 1913, Pierneef had his first solo exhibition and rapidly became one of the most recognised names in South African art. In 1929 he was commissioned to create panels for the new Johannesburg Railway station, a project which today would be seen as one of his greatest achievements. Pierneef received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria in 1957 in recognition of his work, shortly after in the same year he passed away in Pretoria.