“Sundowner” – Portrait of a Kalahari Lion
“Sundowner”
African Lion Art
From the press release. Oil on canvas – mounted on board, measuring 690 mm x 510 x (27 in x 20 in) – unframed. “Sundowner” set in a late African sunset. Lion Portrait in Oils by Moz. “Sundowner” is available as limited edition prints on canvas, for information please see here. The original painting is Sold.
Descendent of a Lowveld Pioneer Returns Home
Eighty-eight years ago, the newly proclaimed Kruger National Park was an immense, remote region of wild bush, the size of a small country. Before that time, tourists wanting to experience authentic “Africa” were restricted to the South African Railways’ popular “Round in Nine” tours. But that was all about to change.
In 1926, an enterprising Nelspruit businessman, A M Mostert, was granted the first tourist concession into the Kruger Park. Operating a fleet of 7-seaters from his Nelspruit garage – Mostert, owner of 4,000 hectares of Timbavati – connected ardent tourists with the wildlife experience and a new industry was born.
Today A. M. Mosterts’ grandson, Mauritz, captures the wildlife so loved by his family, (in oils on canvas). This lure of painting first began under the tutelage of Walter Battiss, while Mauritz was a pupil at St. Albans, in Pretoria.
Over the decades, Mauritz pursed a part-time fascination with wildlife art, influenced by friends such as Norman Catherine and Lowveld artists Barbara Jeppe and Lee Voight.
Peter Mostert, Mauritz’ father, was an ecologist responsible for the creation of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in 1956. Mauritz spent much of his youth working on his fathers’ and grandfathers’ farms in Timbavati and assisted when the (now defunct) Kruger Park and Timbavati fences were erected. He has worked in South Africa and Botswana as an expedition guide and co-ordinator for documentary makers associated with National Geographic.
Mauritz married the youngest daughter of Sir Laurens van der Post in 1976 after his last Botswana expedition; the couple have four sons, all keen wildlife enthusiasts.
Today Mauritz paints full time, in modest surroundings in the bush he came to love as a child growing up in Timbavati.
Meet Our Authors: The Wildmoz team, Cari and Moz, have a lifelong passion for the Bushveld and share adventures and stories about Africa's good things. Wildmoz is Africa - the cradle of life! Travel writing about wildlife, African folklore, wildlife art, Kruger Park and wildlife safari info! Taste life as it is in Africa.