Fat bellied 'spooks'
2008-05-29
Marquerite Lombard
IT is not every day you stumble into a Fat Bellied Spook or a Dagga Smoking Spook, for that matter. But there they were, hanging on the walls of Ouma Granny’s House in Fontein Street, Wellington. These humorous ink sketches were done by Gregoire Boonzaaier (1909-2005) to entertain children while telling them bedtime stories. Christine Siebrits was a child living on their family farm Optenhorst, when she first met the Boonzaaiers. Her parents Imker and Joyce Hoogenhout had moved to the Hoogenhout family farm in 1943 and befriended the artist and his wife Marie. The artist was then living on the farm Kanettefontein in the Bovlei. Christine Siebrits recalls that she was only 3 years old when the family moved down from Pretoria to settle in the Bovlei. “My grandfather had bought back the family farm, and asked my father if he did not want to farm. “I think it was Magda and Dan Retief who introduced my parents to the Boonzaaiers. He spent many days on our farm painting the trees and old buildings. ”He was particularly fond of some very old oaks, they must have been close to 300 years old. “My mother would always tell us, now don’t go and bother him, but we would go anyhow, and sit out of sight and as still as mice, watching him paint. “He would work, come rain or sunshine. Bad weather certainly did not bother him at all.” At the time he was still an up and coming artist, and would be very pleased when he managed to sell one of the Optenhorst paintings. “He was a wonderful person, very well read, and likeable. A great story teller, and always had a lot of time for us children.” Then children had to be seen not heard, so the Hoogenhout children would never dream of being lingering in the adult company. However, at some point in the evening, Gregoire Boonzaaier would seek out the children and tell them stories, and illustrate them with sketches. “Sometimes we were absolutely petrified, but completely entranced,” recalls Christine Siebrits. “Fortunately both my parents were collectors, never threw anything away.” That is how these quick sketches survived, and copies can be seen in Ouma Granny’s House.
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