Oscar Hollander was born in Cologne, Germany, 1864. He lived in SA from 1889; date and place of death not known. Information on Oscar Hollander, who apparently studied in Amsterdam and arrived in SA in 1889, is thin. In 1911 he met Constance Penstone and George Crosland Robinson and studied for a time under the latter. It is from this phase of his work that the example exhibited here dates. Hollander later settled at Carnarvon, Cape, and painted the Karoo scenes in watercolour for which he became best known. His 1921 exhibition at Lezard's in Johannesburg was a virtual sell-out. He travelled in Europe between 1924 and 1926. The irascible art critic Bernard Lewis commended his treatment of the skies of the Karoo, and his handling of its rocks and "sparsely scattered little bushes, for all the world like the hair on a Bushman's head ... " (The Cape, 31.7.1931).
Exhibitor on SASA-related exhibitions c.1898 - 1950: 1917: SASA Art Exh., MH, City Hall, Darling St., 7 Feb. 1917: SASA Watercolour Exh., Society's Gall., 42 Burg St., 14 Aug. 1918: SASA Art Exh., MH, City Hall, Darling St., 6 Feb. 1918: SASA Winter Exh. (venue not stated) 7 - 24 Aug. 1923: SASA 22nd Annual Exh., RH, City Hall, Darling St., 8 Feb.1924: SASA 23rd Annual Exh., Drill Hall, Darling St., 28 Jan.