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Historical Artist - Anton Van Wouw (1862 - 1945)
Anton Van Wouw was born in Driebergen, Holland 1862 - 1945
Art Education
1974- : Rotterdam Academy, part-time studies in drawing, but later interest in sculp-ture; some
study under Josef Grave.
Short Artist Biography
1864: family moved fo Rotterdam, where Anton Van Wouw was educated.
1890: Anton Van Wouw came to Pretoria; worked for a gunsmith; taught drawing and painting after
hours; later obtained work making decorative mural mouldings (first commission for Edmund Bourke
who later became first mayor of Pretoria): also drew press cartoons and caricatures; friendly
with Frans Oerder; with him, was commissioned to provide mural landscapes for the reception-hall
on occasion of the opening of the Pta-LM railway line.
1896: a commission from Sammy Marks for a statue of Paul Kruger set him on his feet; his first
wife (a sister of Jan Celliers) died in Rome while he was working there on the sculpture.
1899: Anton Van Wouw returned to South Africa. There followed a long successful career in
sculpture, which included numerous official commissions for portrait and monumental bronzes, as
well as the many celebrated small bronze studies of Boer, Bantu and Bushmen figures.
1908: Anton Van Wouw moved to Johannesburg, where he remained for thirty years.
1910: Anton Van Wouw designed first cover of `Die Brandwag'; member of South African Akademie.
1916: married for a second time to a sister-in-law of Pres Reitz.
1925: the statue of Pres Kruger was unveiled in Pretoria, (moved in 1954 to Church Square).
Commenced work on historical frieze for facade of Jhb Railway Station.
1936: Anton Van Wouw awarded Hon Doctorate by University of Pretoria.
1937: Anton Van Wouw awarded Medal of Honour for Sculpture by South African Akademie.
1938: Anton Van Wouw moved to Pretoria; worked on figure group for Voortrekker Monument.
Public Art Collections
Represented by sculpture in most South African Galleries; paintings in William
Humphreys Gallery, Kimberley; drawings in Bloemfontein War Museum; Africana Museum, Johannesburg
Source
Berman, E. 1994. Art & Artists of South Africa . Southern Book Publishers.
Contemporary South African Artists
Art Galleries in South Africa
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