Artist Database

Stephanus Johannes Paulus ‘Fanie’ Eloff was born in Pretoria in 1885 and was the grandson of President Paul Kruger. He attended school alongside fellow influential artists JH Pierneef and Gerard Moerdijk at the Staatsmodelskool in Pretoria. In 1900, he moved to Paris with his family, where he would find inspiration in the sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Eloff had a sizable private income, which allowed him to study and hone his craft. He was a student at the Sorbonne University and enrolled in anatomy and sculpture courses at various other institutions in the city. At the outbreak of WWII, Eloff fled Paris for South Africa (as he had also done for WWI), where he would die in 1947.

Eloff’s work consisted of figurative sculptures, including full bodies and busts. He was known for contracting dancers to pose for him but also sculpted likenesses such as those of his grandfather and South African Boer War general Koos de la Rey. In 1912, he participated in the 130th Salon d'Automne exhibition at the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees in Paris and entered two sculptures into the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris. In 1945, he was awarded the Medal of Honour in art by the South African Academy for Arts and Science. Eloff’s work is held in several South African institutions and at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.