WENNING. By Gregoire Boonzaier & I Lippy Lipschitz

1949. Large hardcover with dustcover. 

Very good condition. The dust cover has some wear. The endpapers are partially discoloured. The hardcover has a small darkish stain (see image). Internally good.

Parcel over 1kg.

This is the dramatic tale told by Gregoire Boonzaaier and Lippy Lipshitz who have collaborated in producing a unique work on an artist who is acknowledge as the father of our indigenous painters.

"It has been said that artists do not reach true greatness until after they are dead. Immortality often walks hand in hand with those who pour out their lives in a fleetng urge to express the beauty they see around them. So it was with Pieter Wenning, who came from Holland to the mundane occupation of bookseller's clerk in Pretoria. The urge to paint became an obsession, but it was only at the age of 42 that he was able to devote all his time to art. Already in failing health, he had only six years of feverish and uninterrupted activity before dying in poverty. His legacy of some 300 oils and 1000 watercolours and drawings captured the respect of the nation and prices rocketed in one of the most sensational treasure hunts in the history of South Africa."