Willem de Sanderes Hendrikz was born in 1910 in Brandfort in the Free State. As a young boy he studied under the German artist Fritz Hickman. In 1928 he started to study Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand and took sculpture lessons at the Johannesburg Technical College. In July 1934 Hendrikz took part in his first exhibition at the Cooling Gallery in London.

After his return to South Africa he got married and started practicing as a full time sculptor in Johannesburg. In 1935 he was given his first commission which was the panels for the Red Cross House in Johannesburg. In 1937 he became a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1940 Hendrikz joined the South Afr...