Notes

The following two lots by Frans Oerder are remarkable for a number of reasons.

Both are large-scale works executed on metal bases; Figures on Horseback, Elands River Valley is painted on an off sales sign advertising the Wayside Inn & Bottle Store in Waterval Onder. This medium is an atypical choice to artists, and this repurposed sign gives clarity regarding the locale of the scenes painted.

Oerder painted these works after returning to South Africa from the Netherlands in 1938 as a gift in recognition for all the assistance he had received from Mr Venn, the owner or manager of the Wayside Inn, who had assisted him with transporting his canvasses and art materials from one painting site to the next, with food and refreshments provided, when the artist was not in good health. The two paintings were initially used as road signs for the Inn and were later installed in the bar. It is probable that the artist’s intention with the choice of these two compositions was to draw visitors’ attention to the popular attractions of the area through this large panoramic format.

It would follow that the source material for these compositions would probably have been derived from sketches or photographic references and painted there. Each work highlights the natural splendour of the area, rendered in Oerder’s characteristically naturalistic style.

Waterval Onder, at the base of the Eastern escarpment between Mpumalanga and Mozambique, was founded during the building of the Pretoria – Delagoa Bay railway line (running from Pretoria to Maputo) in 1895, and is noted for the spectacular Elands River Falls, from which the settlement derives its name. This picturesque area has long attracted visitors and dignitaries to its pleasant climate, including Paul Kruger who resided here before going into exile to Switzerland via Mozambique during the Anglo-Boer war. His house is a National Monument known as Krugershof and lies a short distance from the establishment currently known as the Wayside Lodge.

Provenance

Sotheby Parke Bernet, Johannesburg, 21 June 1983, lot 108.