Notes

Born and trained in the Netherlands, Frans Oerder was “reared in a tradition which celebrated material surroundings and depicted them with intimacy and warmth”.¹

An accomplished landscape painter, he is perhaps better known for his still life paintings. In this composition Oerder captures a delightful marriage between a traditional still life and the keenly observed reflection of the exterior landscape in the glass vase. Here we catch a glimpse of the blue sky of spring beckoning through the window beyond the confines of the composition.

The tinted glass bowl on the right hand side reflects the blossoms creating a harmonious picture surface in which each element is complemented by another. The celadon hues of the background which bring out the delicate pinks in the blossoms, and the warmth of the wooden surface ground the composition without weighing down any of the artist’s carefully ordered elements.

Blossom Time is the partner to Frans Oerder’s Magnolias. Both of these paintings were sold to the New York Graphic Society where they were extensively reproduced – collectively they achieved the highest world sales of any still life reproduction.² The original paintings were returned to South Africa in 1956 when they were bought by respective private collectors and remained there until coming to auction with Strauss & Co, Magnolias in 2009 which established a world record for the artist and now Blossom Time.³

¹ Berman Esmé. Art & Artists of South Africa. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1994, page 313
² Berman Esmé. Art & Artists of South Africa. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1994, page 361
³ Berman Esmé, Painting in South Africa. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1995, page 312

Literature

Berman, Esmé. Art and Artists of South Africa. A A Balkema, Cape Town, 1983, illustrated on page 361