Context (CMS Context)
This object was collected by Julia Tanner while undertaking fieldwork in South Africa from March-May 2000. The fieldwork was financed by UCMAA’s Crowther-Beynon Fund, in order to research and update UCMAA’s South African collections.
This poster was purchased on 2 May 2000 from the Voortrekker Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Biography of artist in: Berman, E., 1983: Berman’s Art and Artists of South Africa. Southern Book Publishers: 102-3. ISBN: 1 86812 345 6.
“COETZER Willem Hermanus, FRSA, FIAL, FIBA. 1900-1983. b. Tarkastad CP-Johannesburg. Studied 1925: in galleries and museums in London. 1928-39: Regent Street Polytechnic, London. Toured European museums. 1934: Central School of Art, London. Summary Biography: Lived in Johannesburg since he was two years old. His father died when he was very young. 1912: began to contribute to family income by making sketches, which his mother coloured. 1917: trained as a coach-builder at Jhb Trade School; continued in this trade for eight years; studied painting by correspondence with Press Art School, London. 1925: went to London to study art but, lacking sufficient money to enter art school, he trudged around the museums making pencil copies of famous compositions. Returned to SA, painted in his spare time. 1928: assisted by Alfred Palmer, Ernest Lezard and Edward Roworth, he held an exhibition in Johannesburg on which he sold enough work to afford to return to London. 1928-30: through Palmer’s influence he was admitted to Regent Street Polytechnic, where he won a prize for his painting, The Dusty Shelf, now in the Jhb Art Gal. Travelled around Europe on a bicycle, covering 3000 miles at a total expenditure of R18. 1930: returned to SA where he began to enjoy an Afrikaner following. 1934: despite his English education, he became very conscious of his Afrikaans heritage and resolved to portray the history and spirit of Afrikanerdom in his art. He therefore returned to Europe and spent nine months studying figure-drawing and painting. He began collecting Africana and conducting research into the history and life of the Voortrekker period; he visited people and places connected with this history; became an expert on costume and equipment of the period. 1938: he designed the Great Trek Commemorative Postage Stamps. 1947: he published ‘My Kwas Vertel’ - a book of his sketches and designs relating to SA historical subjects. 1948: co-founder with WE Gladstone Solomon of Brush and Chisel Club; designed the marble friezes and tapestries for the National Voortrekker Monument, Pta. 1965: he was awarded a Special Gold Medal by the SA Akademie in recognition for his historical work. 1969: presented his complete oeuvre of 800 etchings to the City of Jhb. Long-time member of Africana Museum Advisory Committee. Paintings reproduced by E Schweikerdt (Pty) Ltd, Pta. 1980: widespread tribute on his 80th birthday; published his autobiography, ‘WH Coetzer 80’...Willem Coetzer set out deliberately to reconstruct pictorially the history and spirit of Afrikanerdom and he has gone to endless pains to ensure the accuracy of his visual records. The primary motivation for such endeavour is clearly not purely aesthetic; since his paintings have been conceived as an expression of the sentiments of a broad segment of the public, his style has been consistently and frankly ‘popular’...”.
(See a complete copy of the above biography in UCMAA’s archives).

It is significant that this poster is produced and sold by the Voortrekker Museum, Pietermaritzburg, which exists to commemorate and preserve the history of the Afrikaner nation. This example is one of a series of ‘Great Trek’ pictures painted by Coetzer, which are amongst the most classic visual expressions of Afrikaner nationalism and identity. Between 1834-1840, about 15 000 Afrikaners left the Cape of Good Hope in order to escape British rule and to establish Afrikaner independence in the interior of the country. The imagery of the poster epitomises the struggle for Afrikaner nationhood and the forging of a cultural mythology.

A series of tapestries designed by Coetzer to celebrate the 'Great Trek' are displayed at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. The UCMAA archive holds two postcards of tapestries purchased at the monument on 8/5/2000: 'Across the Drakensberg' (Oor die Drakensberge) and 'Repairing Wagon Wheels' (Herstel van wawiele).

Event Date 5/5/2012
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Poster of painting entitled 'Crossing the Drakensberg' ('Oor Die Drakensberg' in Afrikaans), issued by the Voortrekker Museum, Pietermaritzburg. The artist is Willem Hermanus Coetzer, FRSA, FIAL, FIBA. This picture is one of a series of paintings that Coetzer produced relating to the 'Great Trek' of the Afrikaner nation. In the centre of the picture is a loaded wagon on the edge of an escarpment, which looks down into a deep river valley. On the left three male figures strain on ropes attached to the wagon. In the right foreground a woman and girl watch the activity. Next to them a dog looks towards the men. In the far background is a series of high mountains. In the left foreground is an upturned hat, a rifle and a horn.
Event Date 5/5/2012
Author: maa