Mapungubwe Hill

Base of Mapungubwe Hill (1938), a watercolour on Paper (128mm x 258mm) by the South African artist, Erich also known as Ernst Karl Mayer (1876-1960). Mayer travelled to Mapungubwe on several known occasions and produced an handful of watercolour paintings of the region. This depiction is from the University of Pretoria camp located at the foot of Mapungubwe Hill. During the 1930s Mayer made significant contributions to the identity of art in South Africa through his landscapes and the establishment of an aesthetic consciousness of art. The painting is signed and dated in the bottom right hand corner. Courtesy of the Hugh Gardner Private Art Collection. Short Biography of the artist. E. K. Mayer was born in Karlsruhe in Germany in 1876, he was educated in Berlin, but could not afford to study, but won a bursary for architectural training, but discontinued these studies in 1896 due to serious health issue. He imigrated to South Africa in the hope for a healthier climate and was appointed the Assistant Land-Surveyor at Vrede in the Orange Free State. He moved to the Transvaal in 1898 to join a Boer commando fighting in the South African War (1899-1902) also known as the Anglo Boer war. During this time Mayer sketched landscapes, bushveld scenes and farmers at whose farms he stopped over with his battalion. He was captured by the British at Mafeking and sent to St Helena Island as a Prisoner of War. In his leisure time we devoted his life to painting and explored art through watercolour. Mayer also served in the First World War (1914-1918) as well as the Second World War (1939-1945). Mayer died in Pretoria in 1960.