Johannes Blatt was born in Germany but resided in German South-West Africa for most of his life. Blatt is considered one of the most important artists active in German South-West Africa, and is known primarily as a landscape, wildlife and portrait painter using oils, watercolour, various drawing media, and etching. Blatt trained in Axel Eriksson’s studio in Swakopmund and was encouraged to paint by Carl Ossmann. He went to Hamburg in Germany between 1922 and 1925 where he trained at the Schule am Lerchenfeld.

Blatt returned to South-West Africa and spent the rest of his life as a practicing artist and art teacher. He was the first artist in South-West Africa to produce etchings. He visited areas surrounding Swakopmund and made d...