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The Witte River
The Witte River

The Witte River

Artist (Taplow, Berkshire, England, 1871 - 1939)
Mediumoil on canvas
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 35.7 cm, Width: 40.6 cm
Frame: Height: 57.5 cm, Width: 62.8 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1930.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG002227
About MeIn 1886 Robert Gwelo Goodman emigrated to South Africa with his parents. In 1895, he decided to go to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian. He came to London in 1898, where he settled for a time, visiting South Africa to paint Boer war battlefields. Goodman adopted the second name Gwelo after a Zimbabwean town of that name and in 1920 settled once more in Cape Town, where he had a studio, whilst living in nearby Newlands, where he died in 1939.

The title of the painting is an anglicised version of the Afrikans for 'white river' - 'Witrivier', of which there are a number in South Africa. By far the best known of these originates in the foothills of the Drakensberg and falls into the Crocodile River, in what was formerly the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga). Goodman worked for sugar barons in Natal, so knew the area well but, this painting in fact depicts the less well known Witrivier which is a tributary of the Sundays River in the Eastern Cape.
More About Me

Goodman was born in England, but went to South Africa as a teenager. He is considered the founder of the South African school of landscape painting.