Local News
Wife arrested for murder of acclaimed artist #WalterMeyer─── 09:44 Thu, 28 Dec 2017
The wife of acclaimed South African landscape artist Walter Meyer has been arrested in connection with his murder in Upington, Northern Cape, police said on Thursday.
"She is 28 years old and appeared in court yesterday [Wednesday]," said Captain Jack September.
The 52-year-old artist was found dead at his home in Augrabies Park on Friday night.
It is claimed that Meyer had been involved in a quarrel with his wife at 21:55.
She then allegedly "stabbed him in the chest".
"He died on the scene. She was arrested,” said September.
The wife is expected to apply for bail at the Upington Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Meyer was an award-winning artist, who had received international attention.
In 2012, Graham's Fine Art Gallery described his work as encapsulating landscapes "from the arid and unforgiving terrain of the Namib Desert, the Karoo and the Kalahari through the small towns and dilapidated farmhouses dotted across the South African terrain to the rich vegetation around Camps Bay and the sparkling blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean".
Born in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape, Meyer matriculated in 1982 and obtained a BA degree in fine art (painting) from the University of Pretoria in 1989.
Meyer was awarded the FNB "Vita Art Now" Merit Award in 1994 and walked away with two New Signatures first prize awards in 1984 and 1987 respectively.
His work has been shown in Germany, New York and Namibia and he counts the City Council of Pretoria, the Reader's Digest (USA), the South African National Gallery, the Rupert Foundation and South African Reserve Bank among the collectors of his work.
At the time of an exhibition in 2012, Graham's Fine Art Gallery said Meyer always expressed himself through landscapes.
"From the arid and unforgiving terrain of the Namib Desert, the Karoo and the Kalahari through the small towns and dilapidated farmhouses dotted across the South African terrain to the rich vegetation around Camps Bay and the sparkling blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean," the gallery said of the scenes depicted in his work.
