Artist Database

Ernst de Jong was born in Pretoria in 1934 and spent his school years painting and swimming. His talent in this latter pursuit led to a scholarship to attend the University of Oklahoma in the USA, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and was awarded the Letzeiser prize for the best student in the faculty. He returned to South Africa in 1957 and the following year opened Ernst de Jong Studios for graphic design. Throughout his career, he lectured in graphic design and painting at the Pretoria Technikon (now Tshwane University of Technology), the University of Pretoria, and the University of the Witwatersrand. From 1994 to 1998, the artist and his wife moved to Oslo, Norway, where he produced a series of works titled Passage to Norway. Known for his Abstract Suprematist Symbolic style, de Jong continued to lecture, paint, and exhibit until his death in 2016.

De Jong participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in South Africa, Europe, and the USA, notably the 1972 Venice Biennale and a Retrospective Exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 1994 that featured 236 works by the artist. He also completed several public commissions such as the State Theatre fire screen mural in Pretoria, developed postage stamp artwork, and was the Design Director for the new South African bank notes in 1992.