(“The
Re-internment on Buffelskop” - oil on canvas by Jannie van Heerden)
Olive
Schreiner Revisited is a solo exhibition by Jannie
van Heerden running at artSPACE Durban.
Van Heerden makes comments on his work:
“Olive Schreiner is best known for her
novel: The Story Of An African Farm.
I grew up in Cradock, Eastern Cape where Olive Schreiner lived as a teenager
along with her elder brother and sister and where she worked later as a tutor
on the farms: Gannahoek and Klein Gannahoek. In 1921 she was buried on the
mountain Buffelskop, just outside Cradock.
“As a young boy my father often took me to
the Schreiner House, then derelict, where Olive lived with her siblings, and we
once ascended Buffelskop to look at her grave. The legend of Olive was always
with me and was realised in 2013 with my exhibition at the KZNSA Gallery,
Durban: Olive Schreiner: The Story Of An
African Farm. However in the past few years I felt that I had not done her
justice and thus the revisit.
“Olive was born on the Wittenberg mission
station in 1855. Her first encounter with Cradock was in 1867 when as a
teenager she lived with her elder brother and sister in Cross Street (now part
of the National English Literary Museum). She returned later to serve as a
tutor on farms in the district. The landscape and its people left a deep
impression upon her, and influenced her famous novel which was published under
the pseudonym Ralph Iron, as women were not allowed to publish at that time.
Her other best-known works are: Thoughts
On South Africa and Women And Labour,
long considered as the bible of the women’s movement. Olive was deeply involved
in politics and was a fighter for all the oppressed peoples of South Africa,
she was totally opposed to Rhodes and British imperialism.
“In 1894 she married Cron, eight years her
junior and they settled on the farm Krantzplaats, Cradock district. She
insisted that he took her name and he was known as Cronwright Schreiner. During
this time they ascended the mountain Buffelskop, with its breathtaking view
across the valley. Olive decided that this was where she wanted to be buried
and acquired the plot.
“Olive was excessively asthmatic and she
soon had to leave the damp riverbeds of Krantzplatts and spent a lifetime
searching for a suitable climate for her health, first Hanover, then Kimberley,
Johannesburg and eventually Matjiesfontein. Her firstborn child lived for only
nine hours and after that she had three miscarriages.
“Olive and Cron eventually drifted apart
and she left for Europe and England in 1914. She already knew many influential
people there like Havelock Ellis and Eleanor Marx, both who influenced her
outlook on life.
“Olive returned to Cape Town in 1920. She
died in 1921 and was buried in the family crypt. According to her wishes Cron
had her body exhumed and buried in 1921 on Buffelskop.
“The re-internment on Buffelskop was a very
dramatic event. Eight carriers spent two days carrying her coffin plus those of
her dead child and her dog, Nita, up the hill. The undertaker schooling built a
dome shaped sarcophagus on the pinnacle to take the coffins. According to
Olive’s wishes no religious ceremony was allowed. As Cron finished his eulogy
an eagle soared across the sky, to paraphrase the The Story Of An African Farm: “the dark plumed bird uttered its
deep low cry: Immortality”.
Olive
Schreiner Revisited runs until March 23 at 16h00. artSPACE
durban is
situated at 3 Millar Road
(off Umgeni Road)
close to the Waste Centre. More information on 031 312 0793 or visit www.artspacedurban.co.za
or www.artspacedurban.blogspot.com
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