Birth name  Adolph Stephan Friedrich Jentsch

Born    29 December 1888 Deubell, Dresden

Died    18 April 1977 (aged 88) Windhoek, Namibia

Nationality  German

Field    Painting

Training   Dresden Art Academ

 

 Awards          

 

1913 Koniglich~Sachsische Staatsmedaille fur Kunst und Wissenschaft

1958 Order of Merit, First Class, Federal Republic of Germany

1962 Medal of Honour for Painting, S.A. Akademie vir Kuns en Wetenskap

 

Adolph Stephan Friedrich Jentsch was a German-born Namibian artist, born in Dresden in 1888, and died in Windhoek, Namibia (formerly South West Africa) in 1977. He studied at the Dresden Staatsakademie für Bildende Kunste (Dresden Art Academy, today's College of Fine Arts) for six years, and used a travel grant award to visit France, Italy, UK and The Netherlands. Jentsch moved to Namibia in 1938 to escape the approaching war and lived there until his death. He travelled extensively in Namibia and eventually settled down near Dordabis, about 60 km from the capital Windhoek.

 

Jentsch painted landscapes and worked in watercolour and oil. He was interested in Oriental philosophy and was influenced by Chinese Art.

 

 

Exhibitions and Collections

 

 S.A National Gallery, Cape Town.

 

Johannesburg Art Gallery.

 

Pretoria Art Museum.

 

Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaf-Reinet.

 

William Humphreys Gallery, Kimberley.

 

Rembrandt van Rijn Art Foundation.

 

S.A Association of Arts, Windhoek.

 

Administration of South West Africa.

 

University of Stellenbosch.

 

Pretoria University.

 

Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg.

 

 Five paintings were reproduced as stamps in South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1973

 

 

Publications

 

 Adolph Jentsch. Die Bilder aus der Zigarrenkiste. 2003, by Peter Strack

 

Gallery Magazine, Autumn 1984, Adolph Jentsch — Prayers in Paint by Mark A. Meaker

 

Adolph Jentsch. 1973, by Olga Levinson

 

Lantern, Vol.3, No.4, April–June, 1954: 'Adolph Jentsch' by Otto Schroder

 

Lantern, Vol.7, No.1, October, 1957: 'Vyf Kunstenaars uit Suidwes-Afrika'

 

Adolph Jentsch, SWA.: An appreciation with reproductions of watercolours painted by Jentsch in the surroundings of Brack. Essays by Otto Schroder and P. Anton Hendriks, Swakopmund, 1958 (70th anniversary)

 

Our Art, Vol.1: Essay by Otto Schroder, 1959

 

Fontein, Vol.1, No.1, 1960: 'Adolph Jentsch' by Anton Hendriks

 

Art in South Africa by F. L. Alexander, Cape Town, 1962

 

South West Africa Annual, 1970: 'Jentsch' by Olga Levinson

 

Art and artists of South Africa by Esme' Berman, Cape Town, 1970

 

 

Film 

 

 Jentsch, documentary sound film, 16mm, commissioned by The Friends of the South African National Gallery, Cape Town. Written and produced by Olga Levinson; filmed by Lewis-Lewis Productions.