Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk (20 August 1853 Riversdale - 22 January 1936 Riversdale), was a South African painter, noted for his majestic landscapes of the

Langeberg Range The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to ...

in the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. Born of Dutch parents on the farm ''Melkhoutskraal'', Volschenk started painting when still a child and was largely self-taught. James Reitz, the Government Land Surveyor, saw some of his drawings and suggested that his brother Gysbert, a Riversdale lawyer, take an interest. He eventually joined the firm of Reitz & Versfeld as a bookkeeper. At 51 years of age he gave up his office job and devoted all his time to his oils and canvases. His home district around Riversdale and the

Langeberg The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to ...

, was his inspiration and subject matter, and he became a master of the subtle colours and tones of the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

mountains. Volschenk's keen powers of observation spilled over into natural history - he amassed a collection of more than 4 000 beetle specimens. When 45 years old, Volschenk married another Riversdale resident, Helen Smalberger, and they produced a family of nine daughters. Of these, Vera, the eldest, followed in her father's footsteps and painted in the same genre.

Timeline

*1879 Exhibits four works in Cape Town *1893 Accompanies the Reitz family to Europe and is inspired by the art galleries *1894 Joins the South African Drawing Club and exhibits with them *1899 Marries Helen Smalberger of Riversdale *1904 Gives up office work and devotes full attention to painting *1936 Suffers a stroke and dies in Riversdale

Public art collections

*South African National Gallery, Cape Town *Johannesburg Art Gallery *Pretoria Art Museum *Durban Art Gallery *William Humphreys Gallery, Kimberley *AC White Gallery, Bloemfontein *Albany Museum, Grahamstown Berman, E. 1994. Art & Artists of South Africa . Southern Book Publishers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volschenk, Jan Ernst Abraham 1853 births 1936 deaths Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent 19th-century South African painters South African male painters 19th-century male artists 20th-century South African painters 20th-century male artists