Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef

b. 1886 — d. 1957

Jacobus Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef (usually referred to as Pierneef) (13 August 1886 Pretoria – 4 October 1957 Pretoria),[1] was a South African landscape artist, generally considered to be one of the best of the old South African masters. His distinctive style is widely recognised and his work was greatly influenced by the South African landscape. Most of his landscapes were of the South African highveld, which provided a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Pierneef's style was to reduce and simplify the landscape to geometric structures, using flat planes, lines and colour to present the harmony and order in nature. This resulted in formalised, ordered and often-monumental view of the South African landscape, uninhabited and with dramatic light and colour. Pierneef's work can be seen worldwide in many private, corporate and public collections, including the Africana Museum, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Pierneef Museum and the Pretoria Art Gallery.