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Lot description
Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk (South African 1853-1936) CRAG AND KLOOF, RIVERSADLE, SOUTH AFRICA signed and dated 1911; inscribed with the title and the date on the reverse oil on canvas 45 by 35cm Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk was born near Riversdale in the Western Cape to Dutch parents in 1853. Having not received any formal education in art, he initially pursued a career as a book keeper whilst painting in his spare time. In 1893 he accompanied the Reitz family on a tour of Europe where he was greatly inspired by the artwork he saw in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Upon his return, he joined The South African Drawing Club, with whom he would exhibit extensively. Volschenk’s studio looked out onto the Langeberg mountain range, which served as the inspiration and subject matter of the vast majority of his paintings. Crag and Kloof, lot 742, is one such painting. With its long view of the veld with cattle grazing and pink heaths delicately dotted, toward the rocky peaks of the Langeberg Mountain Range depicted in untiring attention to detail, and the vast expanse of sky, this work is quintessentially Volschenk. “Volschenk approached the task of celebrating his home landscape without theory or polemic. His aim was purely to record the information offered by his eyes.” - Esmé Berman - Berman, E., Art and Artists of South Africa, A. A. Balkema, Cape Town, 1974, p 315 & 316 - Borman, J., Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk (1853 – 1936), available: http://www.johansborman.co.za/artist-biographies/volschenk-jea/1