Frans Oerder is op 7 April 1867 in Rotterdam gebore. Reeds vroeg in
sy lewe het Frans tekenaanleg getoon, en was hy so verknog daaraan dat hy
maar weinig aandag aan skoollesse en skoolgaan gegee het. Onder aansporing van ‘n neef, Hendrik Oerder, is hy vanaf sy twaalfde tot sy veertiende
jaar toegelaat tot ‘n spesiale aandklas in die tekenkuns, terwyl hy vanaf
sy veertiende jaar aan die Rotterdamse Akademie onder die kunstenaars,
Jan Striening, A.H.R. Maasdijk en Johan Philip van der Kellen gestudeer
het.
Aan die genoemde Akademie het Derder homself hoofsaaklik op die skilderkuns toegelê. Die kursus, wat gewoonlik ses jaar geduur het, het hy
binne vyf jaar afgelê. As besondere onderskeiding ontvang hy, nadat hy
die gewone kursus wat strek oor ses jaar, binne vyf jaar voltooi het, ‘n
silwermedalje vir figuurtekene. Oerder was toe agtien jaar oud.
Hierna is ‘n reisbeurs na Italie deur koning Willem III aan hom toegeken. Vir twee jaar na die reis werk hy in die ateljee van die Franse
portretskilder, Ernest Blane-Garin wat in Brussel woonagtig was. Op hierdie stadium het sy opleiding sy belangstelling in verskillende rigtings
laat koers kry: die landskap, die stillewe met veral vrugtestudies, die
interieur, die portret en figuurwerk. Oerder se ideaal was op hierdie
stadium om die Nederlandse tradisioneel-realistiese kuns hoog te hou en
om soos sy groot voorgangers met verf te teken.
Op 23 jarige leeftyd en wel gedurende 1890, besluit Oerder om na
Transvaal te vertrek met die oog op sy verdere skildersloopbaan. Aanvanklik was dit moeilik om as kunstenaar hier ‘n bestaan te maak. Die
jong Oerder is as skilder by die "Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappy"
aangestel om die paaltjies langs die spoorlyn wat van Pretoria
na Lourenco Marques in aanbou was, wit te verf. Met die uitbreek van die
Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, het Oerder ‘n opdrag van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering
ontvang om in samewerking met professor Nico Hofmeyer, dokumentasiesketse
te maak aan die verskillende oorlogsfronte. Die gedenkboek waarvoor die
sketse be-oog is, het nooit verskyn nie, maar meeste van hierdie sketse
het bewaar gebly.
Gedurende sy verblyf in Suid-Afrika, vanaf 1890 tot 1908, gaan die kunstenaar vir twee en ‘n half jaar op ‘n toer na Oos-Afrika, Zanzibar en die
eiland Ibo.
Sy terugreis na Europa in 1908, het hom eerstens na Italie geneem,
waar Oerder vir ongeveer ‘n half jaar baie produktief gewerk het. Hierna
reis hy verder na Holland, waar hy groot sukses behaal het met sy uitstallings. Sy verblyf in Holland, gedurende 1908 tot 1938, lewer veral hoogtepunte soos sy ontmoeting met Gerarda Petronella Pitlo, met wie hy gedurende
1909 in die eg verbind is, asook die uitbreek van die Eerste Wereldoorlog -
1914 tot 1919 - wat die Oerder gesin gesien en beleef het, en waarin hulle
veral die groepe vlugtelinge gehelp het.
Die toenemende oorlogsbedreiging in Europa gedurende die laat dertigerjare, het Oerder in 1938 laat besluit om weer na Suid-Afrika terug te keer.
Toe reeds ‘n man van 70, het dit hom nie aan ondernemingsgees ontbreek nie.
Tot en met sy dood op 15 Julie 1944, in Pretoria, het Oerder nougeset aan
sy lewenstaak toegewy gebly, talle uitstallings gehou en nag heelwat uitstappies na Noord-Transvaal en die Kaap onderneern.
As gebore en geskoolde Nederlander, is dit duidelik dat Oerder onteenseglik neëntiende-eeuer van die Haagse skool gebly het. In vergelyking met
die kunstenaars wat die nuwe tyd ingelui het, het Oerder sy styl as realis
behou. In Suid-Afrika het Oerder weinig invloed uitgeoefen op kunstenaars
soos byvoorbeeld, Irma Stern, Maggie Loubser, Walter Battiss, Alexis
Preller en Jean Welz. Hulls ontwikkeling het hy trouens nie meegemaak
nie en na 1939 het dit duidelik aan hom verby gegaan. Met sy portretstudies, stillewes, landskappe en blomstudies, le Oerder die
grondslag vir die Realisms in Suid-Afrika. As iemand van ‘n vorige generasie
in Suid-Afrika, moet Oerder met reg gesien word as ‘n historiese figuur.
In Nederland, met sy ryke kunstradisie, sou Oerder meer ‘n deeglike en taamlik akademiese skilder onder baie ander gewees het. Vir die kuns in Transvaal het Oerder daarenteen baie beteken, en behoort hy tot een van die belangrikste grondleggers van ‘n fondament, waarop tien jaar later die moderne kuns in Suid-Afrika tot ontwikkeling kon kom.
Frans David Oerder was born in Rotterdam on the 7th April 1867. At an
early stage in his life Frans showed an aptitude for drawing and he was so
interested in his drawings that he neglected his school lessons and schooling.
At the instance of his cousin, Hendrik Oerder, he was admitted to special
evening classes in drawing from his twelfth to fourteenth years. From his
fourteenth year he studied art at the Rotterdam Academy under the artists,
Jan Striening, A.H.R. Maasdijk and Johan Philip van der Kellen.
While at the abovementioned academy, Oerder applied himself mainly to
the art of painting. He completed the usual six-year course in five years.
He received a silver medal for figure drawings, as a token of merit for
having completed six-year course in five years. At that stage Oerder was
eighteen years old.
After this a travel bursary to Italy was awarded to him by King
William III. After his return he worked in the studio of the French portrait artist, Ernest Blane-Garin who lived in Brussels, for two years.
At this stage his training directed his interest to various aspects of
art such as: landscapes, still life mostly with fruit, interiors, portrait
and figure work. At this stage it was Oerder’s ideal to keep up the traditional Netherlands realistic art and to follow his predecessors by drawing
with paint.
In 1890 when Oerder was 23 years old he decided to visit the Transvaal
in order to further his painting career. Here he initially found it difficult to earn his keep as an artist. The young Oerder was commissioned by
the "Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche-Spoorweg-Maatschappy” to paint the
markers along the railway line which was being built between Pretoria and
Lourenco Marques. At the declaration of the Anglo-Boer War, Oerder was
commissioned by the S.A. Government to make documentation sketches at the
various lines of front. These had to be made in collaboration with Professor Nico Hofmeyer. This remembrance book for which the sketches had
been intended, was never published, although most of them remained conserved.
During his South African stay from 1890 to 1908, the artist took a tour
of two and a half years to East Africa, Zanzibar and the Island of Ibo. His
return to Europe in 1908 took him firstly to Italy, where he was very productive
during his half year stay. Thereafter he travelled to Holland, where he had
great success with his exhibitions. His stay in Holland during 1909 to 1938
was marked by several high lights, one of which was his encounter with
Gerharda Petronella Pitlo, to whom he was married in 1909. These highlights
also included the declaration of World War I - 1914 to 1919 - which was witnessed by the Derder family, and during which they gave assistance to many
refugees.
The increasing threat of war during the years 130, persuaded Oerder to
return to South Africa in 1938. Despite his 70 years he did not lack initiative and Oerder devoted himself to his vocation at Pretoria until his
death on July 15th, 1944. During this period he made several excursions to
the Northern Transvaal and the Cape Province. Being a born and bred Netherlander, it is clear that Oerder remained a scholar of The Hague school. Compared with the artists who introduced the new era, Oerder maintained his
style as a realist. In South Africa Oerder exercised little influence on
the artists, i.e. Irma Stern, Maggie Loubser, Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller,
Jean Welz. He did in fact not take part in their development, and after 1939
it clearly escaped his attention.
Oerder founded the South African realism with his portraits, still
lives, landscapes and flower pieces. As a member of the former generation
in South Africa, Oerder can justly be regarded as a historical figure. In
the Netherlands, with her rich art tradition, Derder would comparatively
have been a more thorough and academic painter. On the contrary, Oerder
was one of the most important founders of an art tradition, which caused
the development of modern art in South Africa ten years later.
