First artwork of the landscape series by Johan Smith
Artist: Johan Smith (b. 1961)
Title/subject: "Panoramic View" / Panoramic Free State landscape with windpump, poplars and sandstone outcrops
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions (image): 40 × 150 cm (per certificate)
Signature/date: Signed lower right by the artist, Johan Smith
Provenance: First artwork of the landscape series. Johan Smith Art Gallery valuation certificate dated 2007-06-01, title Panoramic View, signed with a personal message to the original owners on the back.
Estimated Insurance Value: R58,000 - R90,000
Framing: Dark wood frame with cream mount, glazed. Work not examined out of the frame.
Observed condition (front, through glazing):
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Paint surface presents well. No visible losses, lifting, or abrasions in the photographed areas.
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No obvious craquelure or cupping visible at normal viewing distance.
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Canvas appears planar with no visible buckling.
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Mount shows light soiling at the lower inner edge.
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Frame has minor scuffs consistent with age and normal handling.
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Glazing shows reflections and light surface marks.
Conservation notes and recommendations:
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A full assessment requires inspection out of the frame and under raking and UV light.
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If re-framing, request acid-free mount, dust seal, and spacers. Acrylic glazing is safer for transport.
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Light clean of the mount and frame would improve presentation.
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Record current high-resolution photos and keep the 2007 certificate with the painting.
Overall: Good presentational condition based on an external visual check. No material issues noted in the images.
About the Artist:
Johan Smith is best known for his paintings of atmospheric landscapes and expansive skies. He studied agriculture at Stellenbosch University, where he first explored ceramics, exhibiting with the South African Potters Association.
In 1987 he moved to Bethlehem, working as an agricultural researcher while developing his ceramics studio, but in 1995 he left research to pursue art full time, shifting his focus to painting.
Largely self-taught, Smith works primarily in oils, combining thin translucent layers with textured impasto to create depth and mood.
In 1999 he opened the Johan Smith Gallery in Clarens.
Smiths work is rooted in a realist approach his scenes are recognisable and geographically grounded in the Free State/Highveld. The windpump, poplars, and sandstone cliffs are not generic but specifically tied to that regions visual identity.
He doesnt belong to impressionism or abstraction; instead, his work is part of a post-1970s South African realist tradition think of Pierneefs earlier influence, but rendered with contemporary colour choices and more polished gradients. Many South African collectors place him in the line of new realism landscape painters that make rural architecture, farm equipment, and veld features into cultural icons.
Even though the works are realist, they are not photographic. He uses:
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Exaggerated clarity and long horizons the panoramic proportions emphasize scale.
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High-contrast colour bands especially the golden yellows and deep blue skies:
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Layered textures his technique mixes thin glazes (like airbrushed smoothness) with impasto and sgraffito (scratched detail), which give the surfaces a distinctive rhythm.
