BIOGRAPHY

Ernst de Jong was born in South Africa in 1934.Awarded a scholarship to study in the USA where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Oklahoma and was adjudged the best student in the faculty of Fine Art in his graduation class. 

On returning to South Africa he established Ernst de Jong Studios in 1958 which was long regarded as the foremost graphic design studio in the country. 

At various periods he has lectured in advanced graphic design, aesthetics and painting at the Pretoria Technikon (then Pretoria Technical College, now Tshwane University), the University of Pretoria, the University of the Witwatersrand, the School of New Vision in New York City, and the Academy of Graphic Design in Oslo and was influential in shaping the aesthetic of many young designers and painters over several decades. 

Since 1958 he has held 50 solo painting exhibitions and participated in as many group exhibitions in South Africa, Europe, Scandinavia and the USA. In 1972 the ‘Oklahoma’ series of graphics was selected for show at the Venice Biennale. Of his 33 murals, the gigantic 11m x 17m State Theatre Fire screen in Pretoria, South Africa, is probably his best known work. In a very contrasting scale he also designed the second definitive series of RSA postage stamps. The Society of Designers in South Africa honoured De Jong with its premier award for Outstanding Design Achievement (Graphic Design and Architecture) in 1988. 

The South African Reserve Bank appointed him Design Director for the South African bank notes with animals which were released in 1992. He also styled the South African Pavilion and designed a ‘Planet Earth’ flag for the Polish Pavilion at the 1992 World Expo held in Seville, Spain. 

In 1993 he completed the series of paintings entitled ‘Spear of the Nation’. These twenty-five works were first exhibited that year in his solo exhibition hosted by the Friends of the Pretoria Art Museum at the Museum. Notable amongst these paintings are ‘Tomsk-7/The Beginning of the Fall’, ‘The Miracle’ and ‘The Fall of a Regime’. The exhibition was very controversial at the time, just before the 1994 elections. 

In 1994 Ernst de Jong’s Retrospective Exhibition, comprising 236 paintings and graphics spanning 40 years of work, was opened at the Pretoria Art Museum by the then United States Ambassador to South Africa, Princeton Lyman. From 1994 to 1998 the painter resided in Oslo where he painted a series of works titled ‘Passage to Norway.’ De Jong exhibited the ‘Passage’ paintings during the 1996 Festival held at the Gamle Logen in Oslo. Later that year he was one of 5 judges invited to adjudicate the International Computer Art Biennale in Warsaw, Poland. In January 1997 the ‘Passage to Norway’ series was shown at the Gallery Galtung in Oslo. At the same time works by the artist were included in an exhibition of South African art which the Norwegian National Museum of Contemporary Art mounted at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo and later sent on tour throughout Norway. 

From 8 March to 23 April, 2000 the Pretoria Art Museum mounted a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by de Jong which consisted primarily of recent South African works, including landscapes, animal themes and still lifes, as well as a collection of figure studies and works from his Norwegian sojourn. 

Back in South Africa he established the Academy of Fine Art in 2001 which today offers Diploma courses in Graphic Design and Advanced Painting.Today he is Managing and Creative director of the Ernst de Jong Academy of Fine Art 

He continued painting in his sought after Abstract Suprematist Symbolic style of work as well as new fantasy works.

​In February 2016, Ernst sadly passed away after a short illness.