GEORGE NEWS - A blazing fire ravaged the Pharoah Gallery last night. It completely destroyed, the old thatched building which housed the priceless art collection of well-loved artist, Peter Pharoah.

Arriving shortly after being informed of the fire, at 20:30, Peter and his wife Tracy, his father Hugh Pharoah and mother Anne watched in anguish, as his paintings, done over the past decade go up in smoke. The George Fire Brigade arrived soon and shortly afterward villagers who could see the towering flames reach up into the skies came to offer help and watch helplessly.
The family is devastated, as the gallery was in effect their inheritance of pioneer pilot Victor Smith (Peter’s grandfather).
Fortunately none of the photos of Smith, used in the book "Flying in an open cockpit over Africa", were kept there.
Anne Pharoah said the family was particularly distressed by the incident as the building was not insured against fire. "Being retired we could not afford to insure both our own home and that of my father."

One of the first things that Peter tried to do was to save the computer. "Our computer had very important data on it, a record of all my paintings." It was also used by his wife Tracy Pharoah who works from the gallery as a website designer. "Saving anything at all was an impossible mission because when he got there the fire was totally out of control."

Surveying the damage the following morning, the twisted metal, roof rafts burnt to a cinder, piles of thatch still smouldering away, Peter said: "Its the end of an era." He was referring both to his grandfather’s old home and his painting style. He had decided to move in a different direction from his current painting style and was working towards a new one, but needed the paintings as a record of his artistic evolvement. "One of the policemen said I should just repaint them, but that is not possible. One often works on an inspiration, a theme and with a particular energy at the time of creating a painting. I had stocked the gallery well in anticipation of the Soccer 2010 World Cup with the aim of catching some passing trade. It was probably the most stock I have ever carried at the gallery." Peter said his "Purple Lady" painting which had been sent to Cape Town where it was being reproduced into prints, was the only painting saved. The George Herald featured the works of Peter in an article last year, and published a photo of a soccer playing township boy. It aptly illustrated the far reaching joy of being the South African hosts of the World Cup. Peter entered a painting for a World Cup exhibition.

Historic rondawels
Anne Pharoah said the house was built in 1962 by her father, Victor Smith, but the core of the three cottages date back to the early beginnings of the Wilderness probably to as far back as 1911, when the rondawels served as staff quarters for the Wilderness Hotel. It was his clever design engineering that enabled him to retire whilst in his 50’s.
A quote on Peter’s website reads: "A painting is like a good piece of music, it must be something special, something memorable and unique…" - Peter Pharoah, fine artist. It sums up how sentimental Peter felt about his paintings.

Article and photos: Pauline Lourens


The kitchen.


Terence Pharoah at one of the rondawels that was razed to the ground.