Hermann Niebuhr

Hermann Niebuhr was born in Johannesburg in 1972. He studied at Rhodes University and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (with distinction in Art History) in 1993. He was awarded the Rhodes Master’s Degree scholarship and the Raymond Mullen prize for Painting.

Niebuhr is a trained landscape painter. His work combines both the landscape as geographical document often with a deeper subliminal track charting an emotional map of the scene. As a long-time student of Kashmir Shaivism, his work deals with spiritual matters- seeking to discover that which lies beneath the surface.

His cityscapes of the early 2000’s drew critical acclaim (particularly his Johannesburg works) and established him as a voice in the city. Laurice Taitz in the Sunday Times described his work this way, ” The paintings depict a momentary suspension of the noise, the people, and the drama. The moods of the city are on display, the gold-tinted sunsets, the broody rain-filled afternoons, the quietness of dusk and the stirring of night.”

Ricky Burnett (teacher, write, curator and painter) has said of Niebuhr’s work, “We may see and describe Hermann’s works as landscapes, and looking at his work we may go a little further and not merely see the paintings as landscapes but, more excitingly, we may see the landscape as painting.”

Pascale Ascher says “When Hermann paints, he does so with recognition – a practice that involves noticing and making conscious what is Real. He recognises the natural world speaking to us – giving imperatives that are life-giving, spirit-raising, soul-uplifting. An invitation to something Remarkable is there if we are open to it. And Hermann is. He acts as a conduit through his painting, passing on directives that call us to our highest selves.”

In 2020 Niebuhr left his longtime Fordsburg studio in Johannesburg for the village of De Rust where he lives and works as a full-time artist and part time mystic.

Statement – The Night Garden

The Night Garden is a collection of paintings that have occupied me for the last year. They were born out of the electricity cuts in the country which had me going into the garden at night, to explore what would be revealed during the times of total darkness. Armed with a torch and a camera I set about looking for the treasures which were waiting to be revealed. An analogy to the mystic path of uncovering the treasure within is at play. As selective light plays onto the plant/flower and the viewer witnesses it, so it’s mysterious, magical true nature is revealed. The paintings produced in the studio are an equivalent of this experience. These are not mere botanical studies but rather alchemical formulas revealing the mystery that lies hidden by day, until seen in the purity of night. These paintings hold a charge, they reveal something of the natural world which is ‘hidden in plain sight’.

Image: Courtesy of artist