The peak of Pierneef’s development as an artist is marked by the 32 panels he was commissioned to produce for the new Johannesburg Station which replaced the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Park Station in 1929, completed by 1932.

The painting of the ‘Station Panels’ was a daunting task both in number and size. The 28 larger canvasses measured approximately 150 x 140 cm’s each, and depicted landscapes of different parts of Southern Africa. This project created enormous publicity for the artist, as the Railways were responsible for the promotion of tourism both nationally and internationally, and Johannesburg Railway Station became the main point of embarkation for visitors, whether tourists or businessmen, as the age of air transport had yet to arrive. The ‘Station Panels’ were installed by the end of 1932, and included four smaller panels of indigenous trees. The enormous number of preliminary studies done in preparation of this commission provided Pierneef with source material for a great number of paintings, watercolours and linocuts with different variations on these themes.

Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef : English: Knysna heads.   (  )
Artiste	Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef  (1886–1957)     Autres noms J.H. Pierneef Description artiste peintre sudafricain Date de naissance / décès 13 août 1886  4 octobre 1957 Lieu de naissance / décès Pretoria  Pretoria  Autorité : Q3157630 VIAF: 73039275 ISNI: 0000000067085943 ULAN: 500008115 Open Library: OL1888070A DBNL: pier027 WorldCat artist QS:P170,Q3157630
Titre	English: Knysna heads.
Date	1929 date QS:P571,+1929-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Dimensions	150 × 140 cm
Source / photographe	www.artexpertswebsite.com

This work was first published in South Africa and is now in the public domain because its copyright protection has expired by virtue of the Copyright Act No. 98 of 1978, amended 2002. The work meets one of the following criteria: It is an anonymous work or pseudonymous work and 50 years have passed since the date of its publication. It is a broadcast or sound recording and 50 years have passed since the year the programme was published. It is a cinematographic or photographic work and 50 years have passed since the date of its creation. It is an artistic, literary or musical work created under the direction of the state or an international organization and 50 years have passed since the year the work was published. It is another kind of work, and 50 years have passed since the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author). A South African work that is in the public domain in South Africa according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in South Africa in 1996, e.g. if it was published before 1946 and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the effect of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)