The Individualists, c1910-1911, left to right, Dr. Grünberger, Nina Murray, Marcele Piltan, Pierneef, Ms. Harding of the Normal College, Pieter Wenning and Ms. Stent.
Achievements
Caricature of Wenning by his friend and patron, D. C. Boonzaier.
The Individualists, c1910-1911, left to right, Dr. Grünberger, Nina Murray, Marcele Piltan, Pierneef, Ms. Harding of the Normal College, Pieter Wenning and Ms. Stent.
Pieter Willem Frederick Wenning was a South African painter as well as etcher. He is believed to be the father of the style called Cape Impressionism.
Background
Mr. Wenning was born in the Hague, Netherlands, on September 9, 1873, to a family with long artistic associations. He was the son of Heerke and Elizabeth Wenning. The family moved to Leeuwarden when Wenning was five. Pieter Wenning began to develop a passion for painting from an early age; the availability of art materials and prints from his father’s shop and contact with his cousin Ype Wenning, a well known Frisian painter, were contributing factors.
Education
Pieter Wenning was sent to the Hogere Burgerschool where the art teacher, a Mr. H. Bubberman, discerned the boy's talent and encouraged him.
Career
Wenning’s parents dissuaded him from choosing a career in art due to an illness which had left his heart weakened. Pieter Wenning obeyed and took a job at the Dutch Railways, receiving swift promotion due to his solid work ethic. His language fluency allowed him to work as a foreign correspondent in the Clearing Department, giving him an opportunity to travel to Europe and England, where he was able to visit museums and galleries and keep abreast with modern art movements. Wenning devoted all his spare time to painting, and his weekends, when he could paint freely, became his favorite time.
In the wake of the revolutionary upheavals that transformed Europe in the early twentieth century, culminating in the Great Railway Strike across the continent in 1902 and 1903, Mr. Wenning joined the 'blue-collar' workers in their strike at the Dutch Railways, despite his status as a 'white-collar' worker. The strike did not yield concessions, and all who had been involved were immediately dismissed, resulting in Wenning’s unemployment and the beginning of economic woes that would plague him for years to come. His marriage to a young widow with two children added much responsibility to his already heavy burden.
After finding work with H.A.U.M. de Bussy & Jacques Dusseau, the Netherlands’s largest publishing firm, Wenning was offered a transfer to South Africa to work as a bookkeeper in the Pretoria branch, arriving in South Africa in 1905, at 32 years of age.
In 1909, after working mostly in watercolour and pen and ink, he was able to work in oils when a friend and neighbour, Professor Janse, gave him his first colour box and brushes. In 1910, De Bussy’s decided to expand their business, and started to provide art materials to the residents of Pretoria. Mr. Wenning was put in charge of this new department, to his delight, and began to meet many of the artists active in the city, such as JH Pierneef and Frans Oerder. In 1911 they formed the Pretoria society of artists known as 'The Individualists', and Pieter Wenning became the secretary. This year he exhibited with them in Pretoria. The following year he obtained an etching-press from Europe and began to produce folios of landscape etchings.
De Bussy’s opened an office in Johannesburg between 1912-1913, and Wenning was appointed as manager of the art department. Pieter Wenning took a room in Johannesburg. On weekends he would visit the mine-dumps on the lower end of Pereirastown, etching directly from nature (often accompanied by GS Smithard). Displayed his works in the window of the bookshop, but did not make many sales. In 1913, Pieter Wenning was sent by De Bussy’s to the Cape, where he met D.C. Boonzaier and forged a friendship that would last until his death. Boonzaier was among the first of Wenning’s friends and associates to realize his potential as an artist. Though he was by no means the only friend who believed that Wenning should be helped to follow his natural talent, it was him who formulated the plan that would allow Pieter Wenning his first extended painting trip to the Cape. He approached a number of his friends and requested that they each put some money towards a fund which would cover Wenning’s stay in Cape Town for three months in 1916. By this time, Wenning had left De Bussy’s, and was working in the bookshop of a friend, Van Shaik, who gladly allowed him the three months’ leave. Later in that year, Ernest Lezard, the Johannesburg auctioneer, set up a similar fund to allow Wenning a second extended trip to the Cape, though in this case the money would be paid back by means of an auction of all Wenning’s work from the trip. Thus Mr. Wenning was able to escape the drab scenery of Johannesburg for a time, marking the turning point in his career.
For the next five years, the last of his life, Pieter Wenning lived mostly in the Cape, interrupted by short, unexpected visits to his family, and trips to Lourenco Marques and Zanzibar of which very little is known. Between 1916 and 1919, he painted between 300 and 400 oils, and by the end of that period, his work had gained much of the respect it deserved, though it was still not making him very much money. His health had taken a turn for the worse, and despite his friends’ efforts to care for him and convince him to care for himself, he could still be seen canvas in hand, trudging through the rain, looking for subject matter to paint.
During Mr. Wenning’s last visit to the Cape in 1920, he felt sick and dejected as his body could not cope with any amount of strain. He finally gave up painting in bad weather, and restricted himself to nearby scenery during good weather, though, on the one occasion on which he did wander further afield, he collapsed, and was only discovered that evening and helped home by some passers-by.
Pieter Wenning’s work is characterized by a heavy, dark outline and energetic and free brushwork in bold impasto paint, as well as a colour palette of varied greens, rich browns and an effective use of black, white and red.