The Tower

The Tower from the Union Buildings series by South African artist JH Pierneef (1886-1957) was drawn in 1913. Pierneef lived near the Union Buildings and was not pleased about the Imperial British-style of its construction on Meintjieskop in Pretoria. He was of the view that the hill should be kept a natural area and he was among several well-known figures in the City that protested against the location of the new government building. The Union Buildings committee had initially agreed that the natural landscape would be kept intact around the Union Buildings. Pierneef created an series of 12 works that depicted the destruction of the natural landscape created by the construction of this major City capital building. To illustrate is position against the Union Buildings, the drawings were completed in grey sombre colors. The series of the construction of the Union Buildings was donated to the University Pretoria in 1980. 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.