William Fehr (17 April 1892 – 2 April 1968) was a South African businessman and art collector noted for his acquisition of famous artworks, known as

The William Fehr Collection ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, now on display in the Castle of Good Hope in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. The collection was made publicly available for the first time in 1952 when Fehr and other collectors were invited to display historic pieces at the castle. A decade later the collection was purchased by the state and is now owned by The Department of Arts and Culture of South Africa.

Early childhood

William Fehr was born in a remote colonial outpost called

Burgersdorp Burgersdorp is a medium-sized town in Walter Sisulu in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. In 1869 a Theological Seminary was established here by the ''Gereformeerde Kerk'', but in 1905 it was moved ...

, a small town that linked the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

in the eastern frontier to the south of the Free State via a newly built railway. Fehr attended an Academy school in the little town. In 1901 his father Carl Fehr, who was a successful businessman in the town, moved his family back to his hometown of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

in Germany as a result of his poor health and the looming threat of the Anglo-Boer War. In Wiesbaden, William and his two younger siblings Gordon and Bertha attended Kënigliches Real-Gymnasium Schule.

Early career

By 1912 William had taken up an apprenticeship at Edward Markus, a commerce firm in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In 1914 he became the head of the company's samples department at its

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branch, a city that began refining his love for fine art. Due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Carl decided to leave

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and relocate his family back to the Cape Colony, with William following shortly thereafter. William found employment in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

at a commerce firm called Messrs. Malcomess & Co., Ltd.

Personal art collection

During the 1920s William began assembling a personal art collection from colonial era Africa dating as far back as the 15th Century. This collection included paintings, prints and drawings, a collection which would later be extended to interior décor artefacts. His most prized works were in the form of personal pictures from his time growing up. William was fascinated with the ever-expanding and evolving medium of photography, and its ability to capture ordinary life onto a glass plate.

The William Fehr Collection

In the early to mid 19th Century there was a lack of systematic artifacts gathering by South African cultural and heritage institutions, particularly by the South African government. By this time William was one of the foremost art collectors in South Africa. In 1952 he lent his personal collection for public exhibition to the Van Riebeeck Tercentenary Festival which was housed at the Castle of Good Hope. In 1964 the South African government purchased his personal collections, which by then included oil paintings, furniture, ceramic, metal and glassware. This collection can still be seen at the Castle of Good Hope today. In 1965 he donated more of his personal artifacts to the South African government, works which were housed at Rust en Vreugd in the Cape Town City Centre. File:Aernout Smit Table Bay, 1683 William Fehr Collection Cape Town.jpg , ''Table Bay, 1683'', Aernout Smit (1683) File:Anonymous The Noord-Nieuwland in Table Bay, 1762.jpg , ''The Noord-Nieuwland in Table Bay, 1762'', Anonymous (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

18th century) (1762) File:Robert Dodd English ships in Table Bay 1787.jpg , ''English ships in Table Bay, 1787'', Robert Dodd (1787) File:Samuel Scott Table Bay, c. 1730 William Fehr Collection.jpg , ''Table Bay'', Samuel Scott (ca. 1730) File:W.H.F.L. Langschmidt 001.jpg , ''Canteen Scene during the Frontier Wars'', W.H.F.L. Langschmidt (ca.1850)

Legacy

Today local and international researchers and artists continue to show interest in studying The William Fehr Collection as a way on interrogating a part of Africa's cultural and colonial heritage. Prints have been done of some of the pictures being house at the Castle, which can now be purchased through the

Africa Media Online Africa Media Online is an organisation that enables African media professionals to reach international markets. Based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the organisation provides online media library systems, professional digitisation services, dig ...

portal.

References