Erich Mayer is not considered as one of South Africa's well-known and significant artists. Regardless of this, South
Africa has inherited a few thousand drawings and watercolour paintings from Mayer that are of incalculable value to
historians and cultural historians. His work has also not been "discovered" and exploited by architectural historians
interested in South African vernacular architecture. Mayer visited various regions in South Africa and made drawings
of the simple vernacular homesteads and other structures he saw on the farms and in the smaller villages and hamlets.
Most of the buildings have now probably disappeared and the drawings are the only evidence of building types that
otherwise could only have survived through oral traditions and legends. The buildings vary from beehive structures
covered with grass mats in the N orth West, "kapsteil" dwellings in N amaqualand, to Bushveld dwellings with gables
and thatched roofs. Mayer also made a contribution to the recording ofthe crude shelters the prisoners of war erected
in the prisoner of war camp on St Helena, where he was sent as prisoner of war during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-
1902). Even though these structures were not erected on South African soil, they reflected the ingenuity and
resourcefulness of the Boers who were imprisoned.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1000879 |
| Date | 13 July 2010 |
| Creators | Naude, M |
| Publisher | South African Journal of Art History |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | South African Journal of Art History |
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