Artist Database

Erich Mayer trained as an architect in Berlin, Germany, and came to South Africa in 1898 to work as a land surveyor in the Free State. He joined the Boer commandos during the South African War (1899–1902) and spent time as a Prisoner of War on St Helena. He settled in Pretoria and would often go out into the countryside on painting trips with his friend Henk Pierneef, who also taught Mayer the art of woodcut printing. Less known among Mayer’s artistic output are the large scale commissioned works – two murals in the Jeppe Street Post Office in Johannesburg and one in the dining room of Monument High School, Krugersdorp. Mayer used his popular representative style to capture the lives of ordinary rural South Africans and their environments on canvas.