Hennie Niemann Jnr South African, b. 1972

Hennie Niemann Jnr is a painter who predominantly works in oil on canvas. His mastery of the medium and the subsequent development of his unique style is grounded in the rigorous tuition received from his artist father, Hennie Niemann Snr and the late iconic South African painter and family friend, Gregoire Boonzaier. Niemann Jnr started out experimenting with the Fauvist aesthetic and was greatly influenced by artists such as Pablo Picasso and South African painters, Walter Battiss and Maurice van Essche. His early expressive paintings were characterised by bold, confident brushstrokes complemented by a rich impasto technique.

 

His early expressive paintings were characterised by bold, confident brushstrokes complemented by a rich impasto technique. His subject matter and models varied, capturing the movement, drama and colourful aspects of the animals, people and cultures encountered in his travels throughout Southern Africa. His subjects were drenched in the African sun and his canvasses portrayed a wide range of indigenous life; from the essence of intimate moments or memories shared, to the expressive energy of stampeding herds and ritual dance.

 

Niemann Jnr's style has progressively gravitated towards greater abstraction, not in its purest form, but rendered in a fragmented style comprising angular, hard-edged forms, restructured to capture the disposition of complex compositions. His current fascination with the energy, rhythm, and harmony of dance has been at the forefront of his development in recent years. He has had solo exhibitions in Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, and London, UK among other locations.