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Meintjes, Johannes 1923- 1980

 

Born: 1923 Riversdale, Cape Province

Died: 1980 Molteno, Cape Province

A painter of portraits, figures, landscapes, still life

and street scenes. Worked in oil, charcoal, pastel

and watercolour, with a strong use of colour, later

more surreal with use of symbols.

Studies: 1938-43 under Florence Zerffi in Cape Town; 1945-47 etching at the Central School of Art, London; 1946-47 in Amsterdam; 1958 in Paris.

Profile: 1945 taught art part time at the SA College and the Jan van Riebeeck High School, Cape Town. 1945-47 worked part time as an announcer and translator on the African Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.  A poet and writer of both books and magazine articles, winning numerous literary awards.  1938-45 lived in Cape Town; 1945-47 in Europe; 1947-65 in the Cape and Johannesburg; 1965-80 lived in Molteno, Cape Province, where he was the Librarian and Museum Curator.  1949 Joint winner of “Most Original SA Painting”, Die Vaderland newspaper.

Exhibitions: Participated in group exhibitions in SA and in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe); 1944 Gainsborough Gallery. Johannesburg, first of numerous solo exhibitions held throughout SA; 1963 SAAA Gallery, Pretoria and Cape Town, Retrospective Exhibition; 1980 Library, University of Port Elizabeth, Memorial Exhibition

Represented: Africana Museum, Johannesburg; Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet; Pretoria Art Museum; SA National Gallery, Cape Town; University of the Witwatersrand; War Museum of the Boer Republics, Bloemfontein; Willem Annandale Art Gallery, Lichtenburg; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley.

Some of the Publications by Meintjes: Maggie Laubser, 1944, J H de Bussy, Cape Town; Lyrical Works, 1948, Anreith Press, Cape Town; Anton Anreith Sculptor 1754-1822, 1951, Juta, Cape Town; Complex Canvas, 1960, Afrikaanse Pers, Johannesburg; Die Dagboek van Johannes Meintjes, three volumes, 1975, Bamboesberg Uitgewers, Molteno, Cape Province.  He wrote 35 fictional and historical books.



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References: Art SA; SAA; 20C SA Art; BSAK 1&2; 3Cs; AASA; SA Art News 6 July 1961 and 20 July 1961; Artlook March 1971; SA Panorama July 1974.



 

Copy of the Evening Post newspaper clipping about the work adhered to the reverse:

‘I returned from Port Elizabeth yesterday at 8.45pm after a wild ten days in the Bay. My exhibition was in the local art gallery and shook PE to its foundations. There was a dispute over my work in the press, strings of letters attacking and more defending; columns published. I was on the front page of the Evening Post twice, and the correspondence was mainly about my painting Young Lovers. The dispute was also reported on the covers of other newspapers. In the evenings, hordes visited the gallery, mainly out of curiosity, because sales were not so good. However, the prestige and publicity were unmatched in my career. In those regions, I am now famous and could barely move in public.’1

1. Johannes Meintjes (1975) The Diary of Johannes Meintjes: Volume III, April 1951–1955, Molteno: Bamboesberg, page 68

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