Pierneef se verbintenis met Johannesburg dateer, streng gesproke, terug na sy vader Gerrit. Gerrit, wat ‘n bouer en argitek was, het die eerste staalhuis in Johannesburg gebou, die jaar toe die stad gestig is, 1986, ook Perneef se geboortejaar.

Met Johannesburg en Pretoria na aan mekaar geleë, was Pretoria altyd Pierneef se gekose stad vir verkenning en vir sy lewenslange verblyf. Johannesburg was aan die groei, met die ontdekking van goud, en hoofsaaklik het die industriële en ekonomiese ontwikkeling van die land daar floreer. Pierneef se eerste dokumentering van die stad was die welbekende mynskagte van die Witwatersrand, vir die ontginning van minerale, hoofsaaklik goud.

Pierneef het aan verskeie uitstallings in Johannesburg deelgeneem, die eerste daarvan so vroeg as 1911, toe hy twee etse, View of Marabastad en View in Donkey Camp, vir die ‘Guild of South African artists’ ingestuur het. Albei is verkoop. Die volgende galerye het, onderskeidelik, vanaf 1916 solo- en groep-uitstallings van Pierneef se werk aangebied: Lezard & Company (later Lezard’s Sales Room), Herbert Evans, Lidchi Kunsgalery, Pieter Wenning-galery en, veral na Pierneef se dood, die Egon Guenter-galery.

Dit was Pierneef se vernaamste publieke opdrag wat sy assosiasie met die stad versterk het — hy het tussen 1929 en 1932 die opdrag ten opsigte van muurpanele vir die Johannesburgse nuwe treinstasie, Parkstasie, uitgevoer. By die 32 muurpanele het hy die mynskagte van die Witwatersrand as een paneel ingesluit; die onderwerp is in 1933 vir een van die skilderye vir die Suid-Afrika Huis in Londen herhaal.

Vandag kan ‘n mens twee van Pierneef se muurpanele, elk 4,3 x 5,4m, wat as opdrag in 1938 aanvaar is, in die Johannesburgse Landdroshof, h/v Ntemi Piliso- en Miriam Makebastraat, Johannesburg besigtig. Die spesifieke panele, wat in 1941 voltooi is, beeld Johannesburg in 1886 en 1940 uit en is op doek wat direk aan die muur geheg is. Restourasie van die doek moet met die doek vas aan die muur gedoen word aangesien die afhaal van die doek die werke in die geheel sal beskadig. Die panele is laas in 2012 gerestoureer, deur Julian Grous.

Pierneef’s association with Johannesburg technically dates back to his father, Gerrit. Gerrit was a builder and architect and built the first congregated house in Johannesburg the year the city was founded, 1886, the same year as Pierneef’s birth.

With Johannesburg and Pretoria in close proximity of one another, Pretoria was always Pierneef’s chosen city to explore, and the city where he lived all his life.  Johannesburg was booming, with the discovery of gold, and was the hub of the industrial and economic development of the country as a whole. Pierneef’s first documentation of the city represented the well-known mineshafts of the Witwatersrand, for mineral-mining, mainly gold.

Pierneef participated in various exhibitions presented in Johannesburg, the first as early as 1911, when he submitted two etches, View of Marabastad and View in Donkey Camp, for the Guild of South African artists. Both were sold. From 1916, the following galleries featured solo and group exhibitions that included Pierneef’s work: Lezard & Company (later Lezard’s Sales Room), Herbert Evans, Lidchi Art Gallery, Pieter Wenning Gallery and, especially after Pierneef’s death, the Egon Guenter gallery.

It was Pierneef’s most important public commission that strengthened his association with the city — between 1929 and 1932 he devotedly worked on the wall panels for the new Johannesburg railway station, Park Station. Included in the 32 wall panels was one panel featuring the mineshafts of the Witwatersrand; in 1933 the subject was repeated for one of the paintings created for the South Africa House in London.

Today one can view two of Pierneef’s murals, each measuring 4,3 x 5,4 m, accepted as a commission in 1938, in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on the corner of Ntemi Piliso and Miriam Makeba Streets, Johannesburg. The specific panels were completed in 1941 and portray Johannesburg during 1886 and 1940 on canvas directly fixed to the wall. Restoration has to be performed with the canvas still on the wall, as removal from the wall would damage the works in their entirety. The latest restoration on the panels was carried out in 2012, by Julian Grous.

Bron / Source

The Star. Restorer puts life back into court artworks, by Omphitlhetse Mooki. 10 April 2012.