Altered Landscapes: A Comparison Between Works by J. H. Pierneef and John Clarke

Abstract

The article is introduced by theoretical speculation about the »world« revealed in a work of art, followed by discussions of landscapes by the painter Jan Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) and place images by the printmaker John Clarke (born 1946), whose peak periods are fifty years apart, during which time the socio-political reality in South Africa changed radically. We hope to reveal that ideology influenced the representation of landscape and place in the work of these artists: Pierneefs sublime views are of a land colonised and altered by white settlers, while Clarke's views of places are marked by configurations of stones and stockades which were assembled by indigenous people. The works of both artists are nostalgic in different ways in that a longing for some idealised vision of a multi-ethnic and multicultural land with conflicting traditions imbues their representations.