Eloff, Zakkie (1925 – 2004)

Zakkie Eloff was born in 1925 on a farm in Bechuanaland in Botswana. He studied art at Pretoria Boys’ High School
under Walter Battiss and at Wits Tech Art School under Maurice van Essche and Phyllis Gardner. In 1957 he
moved to London and studied at the Central School, graphic techniques in various European centres.

Eloff was a man of the veld, and he was at his most comfortable in wide-open spaces. He was a lecture at Pretoria
tech, where he married art student Renee van Zyl. He later moved to Etosha Pan in Namibia, to become a
gamewarden, to escape from the city. The content of Zakkie Eloff’s paintings and etchings reflects his absorption
in wild-life and veld.

The work of Zakkie Eloff was not often seen on Exhibition during his 7 year retreat into the Namibian bush, but
even during the decade following his first show, his output of his painting was receding before his increased

interest in graphic technique. Where his canvases presented boldly stated views of animals and plants within the
landscape, in his etchings and aquatints he tended to concentrate on a single motif. His style was to bring out the
maximum effect in conveying the stance, the character, and movement of a particular animal or beast.