Jentsch, Adolph (1888 – 1977)

Adolph Jentsch was of German descent, born in Dresden, Germany. Like many of his contemporaries, the cultured
and unworldly Orientalist, Jentsch fled Germany when Hitler’s Third Reich turned to persecuting artists. He joined
a cousin in Namibia in 1938 and stayed for the rest of his life. There he made a few lifelong friends, painted and
travelled extensively, settling near Windhoek in 1947.

Anton Hendriks, in 1958 commented on the painter: “Jentsch is not a modern artist; his large and simple
landscapes have the qualities of the simple landscapes. They are subtle, they do not shout, they are unobtrusive,
they do not intrude, they are quiet and therefor, they do not readily reveal themselves to those who are attuned
to modern noise”

In Namibia, Jentsch found the ideal working climate. His spirit responded to the vastness and silence of the desert
landscape. The sublimity of space, which figures so dominantly in Eastern mysticism, was here a tangible reality,
in the solitary desert landscape he felt free to meditate and to express his sense of the eternal.

Adolph Jentsch is considered by those familiar with the scene to have distilled the very essence of the natural
environment of South West Africa. Jentsch passed away in 1977 in Windhoek, SWA.

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Adolph Stephan Friedrich Jentsch

Born: 1888, Dresden, Germany

Died: 1977, Windhoek, Namibia

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 60km 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.

Awards

1913 Königlich-Sächsische Staatsmedaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft.

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

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

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