Artists

Frans Oerder was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and studied art at the Rotterdam Academy as well as under Ernest Blanc-Garin in Brussels, before moving to Pretoria in 1890. He worked briefly for the Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappij (NZASM) and later taught art at the Staatsmeisjesskool, which became Pretoria Girls High School. In 1899, at the request of President Paul Kruger, he joined the Boer cause as an official war artist. Apart from sketching Boer positions in the field, the artist produced a fine group of British portraits while interned as a prisoner of war at Meintjieskop. After his release he travelled up the east coast of Africa, painting landscapes and figure and architectural studies, but the trip was cut short by a bout of malaria. Oerder returned to the Netherlands in 1908 and married flower painter Gerda Pitlo. One of Oerder’s paintings, Magnolias, was sold to the New York Graphic Society and reproductions of the work were bought in record numbers, but the artist derived no financial benefit having sold the rights along with the work. Oerder and his wife settled in Pretoria in 1938 and he continued painting flower studies, still lifes, official portraits, and landscapes based on his travels across the country.