On this weblog I write short observations on various topics. Most of them are related to the art of painting.
cranes (2)
Hokusai Umegawa in Sagami province, cranes nearby Mount Fuji
The Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) is a resident bird in Hokkaido but the largest populations of the Japanese crane live in China, Korea and Siberia. …
cranes (1)
European cranes (Grus grus)
Some days ago I saw a large group of cranes flying by. Long before you see them they announce their arrival by calling their latin bird name (Grus grus). The well organized group looked like a large formation of World War II bombers because of their great wingspan, the slow pace of their wingbeat and their somewhat rolling flight. …
leda and the swan
(after) leonardo da vinci leda and the swan 1515-1520
The threatened swan painted by Jan Asseleijn is an aggressive male swan. Centuries earlier Leonardo da Vinci painted a very tender and compassionate male swan. …
the swan
Jan Asselijn the threatened swan 1640
Today I was working outside and heard the approaching sound of loud sweeping wings. I looked up and saw two swans flying by. The couple was ascending from the creek nearby. …
winter landscape with sheep
sheep in snow
It is Winter. The landscape around us is covered with snow and it is freezing. The sheep are well prepared to endure the hardships of Winter. The thick woollen fleece they wear protects them against the cold. …
sparrow hawk
hans holbein portrait of robertus cheseman 1533
Yesterday a male sparrow hawk clashed full speed against a large window in our living room. It was quite a blow. The sparrow hawk fell down, collected himself and slowly flew away.…
singelbootjes
ina leyte singelbootjes aquarelle
The old city of Leyden is surrounded by four canals called "singels". They are linked and together they have the shape of a square. …
sheep (5) w.h. van der nat (1864 - 1929)
w.h. van der nat sheep in the stable
In most cases sheep are painted as a part of the composition of a landscape and as members of a group. Willem Hendrik van der Nat is an important exception. …
sheep (4) painters in drenthe
julius van de sande bakhuijzen flock of sheep near exloo
In the second half of the 19th century many artists visited the provincie of Drenthe, in the northern part of the Netherlands. …
sheep (3) anton mauve
anton mauve sheep on the moor 1880
Anton Mauve was one of the most important painters of the Hague School. He is generally considered as the champion of Dutch sheep painters. He lived in The Hague where he teached his cousin , the starting painter Vincent van Goghan, the principles of painting. …
sheep
sheep in ruurlo
Since a few weeks four sheep are grazing in the meadow next to my house. The sheep are heathland sheep from Drente (Northern part of Holland). It is the eldest sheep race of Europe. They are rather small and slender but proud, hardened and watchful animals. …
hay (3) claude monet
claude monet haystacks in late summer
The French impressionist Claude Monet was intrigued by the nature of colour. According to Monet the colour of an object has no intrinsic quality but is dependent on the working of light on the object. …
the roe deers of courbet
gustave courbet the dead hind
Yesterday evening at sunset we heard a gunshot nearby. In the vast meadow next to our house a roe deer was walking slowly in the high grass. When we heard a second gun shot the roe deer fell down. …
hay (2) impressionists
julien dupre recolte des foins 1881
In the 19th century a new generation of painters broke with the idealism of the classical painting tradition and directed its attention to nature and every day life in the countryside. …
hay (1) ruurlo
haystacks near Ruurlo
July is the month of hay. Last week the nearby farmer collected the dry hay on the large meadow next to our house. A big machine swallowed the long rows of dried grass and spitted it into big haywaggons pulled by a tractor driving beside the machine. …
barn owl
valentine cameron prinsep " Il barbagianni " (the owl)
For years barn owls have been living upstairs in the attic of my farm. Every spring they use the attic to raise a a nest of young owls. As the barn owl is a bird of the night they become active after sunset. …
Arthur Conley (1946 - 2003)
Yesterday I visited the graveyard in Vorden, a small village in the countryside of Holland. Visiting a graveyard it an excellent way to gather more knowledge about the history and social stratification of the place where your are staying. Even on holidays I often visit the local graveyard. Moreover graveyards usually are beautiful and quiet places. On my site you will find a painting I made of an old graveyard in Leyden. The 19th century graveyard in Vorden is located somewhat outside Vorden almost hidden in a small wood. Immediately after the entrance you will find the family graves of 5 noble families from the neighbourhood. The graves dominate because of their size but are modest and rural in shape. They resemble sandy hills grown with moss. Most of the other older graves of common people are also family graves without names of the individuals but usually with the name of the farm they lived on. When I walked around the graveyard I stumbled upon the grave of Arthur Conley, the American soul singer who in the sixties became famous with his song Sweet Soul Music. He was a friend of Otis Redding who stimulated his career. After the sudden death of Otis Redding he left the United States and eventually found his destination in Ruurlo, a small village not far from Vorden. He officially changed his name into Lee Roberts and lived there in anonimity as a interior designer and a promotor of young musicians. In 2003 he died of cancer in Ruurlo at the age of 57 and was buried in Vorden. It is a modest grave without a stone covered with plants and flowers. If you overlook the CD case with his name and photo between the flowers you would not notice that the once famous Arthur Conly is buried here.
on the move
On my homepage you see a painting of a couple looking into different directions . I started the painting in November 2008 and it is still a work in progress. It represents a couple at crossroads, they are looking in different directions to search the horizon. …
Theo van Doesburg 1883 - 1939
In the Municipal Museum de Lakenhal in Leyden (The Netherlands) I saw an exhibition - in cooperation with Tate Modern in London- on the life and work of Theo van Doesburg and his avant garde contemporaries. Theo van Doesburg lived in the era around World War I . The time of the destruction of millions of lifes but also the time of the destruction of the outdated 19th century ideas and values. On the ruines of World War I people were searching for new and more enlightened values to rebuild the society. In all areas of life this development took place, most notably in politics but also in art. The Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg was an important member of this avant garde. He was a painter, designer, writer, publisher, sculptor and architect. He is the founder of the artistic movement The Style (De Stijl).
Van Doesburg was a versatile artist who tried to unify all forms of art to one universal vision. Creative, dominant and restless he set foot on new paths, concluded coalitions with other members of the avant garde all over Europe, organized and produced an incessant stream of happenings, articles and art objects but many of his friendships and coalitions ended up with a row. The painter Piet Mondriaan with whom he had a close connection was in this respect for a long time one of the few exceptions. But during their stay in Paris they seperated and went into different directions. For van Doesburg even the rows were a source of inspiration for something new. In the Museum de Lakenhal you can see many works of van Doesburg together with works of important avant garde contemporaries like Piet Mondriaan, Hans Richter, Ferdinand Leger, Bart van der Leck, Kurt Schwitters, Walter Dexel e.a. The exhibition is organized in such a way that the modernist works of van Doesburg and others are shown amidst the predominantly classical collection of the museum, which emphasizes the contrast with the past.
When you missed the exhibition in Leiden you can see it from january 3 in Tate Modern in London.
Rien Zwijnenburg
RembrandtForum in Leiden organized an exhibition of new paintings of Rien Zwijnenburg, a Dutch painter from Leiden. The new work of Zwijnenburg was a surprise for me because it is quite different from his earlier figurative oeuvre. His new paintings are made on wood panels covered at random with carved lines. The carved lines are filled with indian ink and the spaces between the lines- which have different shapes- are painted with colours. In the process of painting the lines and colours patterns are developing which finally result in a more or less abstract representation.
The change of his style coincides with a change in his personal life. After working many years as a medical doctor he recently retired to dedicate himself fully to the art of painting. At the occasion of the exhibition the art historian Han van Ouwerkerk published the illustrated essay "Five paintings and a summer" about the work of Rien Zwijnenburg. You can buy it at the exhibition.
Compared to his earlier figurative work it seems to me that in his new work Zwijnenburg has adopted a new, more restrained way of looking at the universe. In his earlier figurative work his view on reality is often reflected by symbolic interpretations.
In his new paintings his view on reality is more detached and reflective. He goes with the flow of the lines and colours and on this journey through the universe Zwijnenburg discovers changing perspectives. By travelling through these perspectives, new ones arise. But at the end of the journey Zwijnenburg is still the one to decide on the final perspective. This process results in beautiful paintings which invite you to continue Zwijnenburg's journey.
Realism in Japan and the Netherlands
Shiba Kokan A meeting of Japan, China and the West late 18th century
The hand of Hendrick Goltzius
One of my paintings on this site is The Fall of Man. I painted it as an exercise to master a large complex composition and to practice flesh coulors.
The painting is a copy of "The Fall of Man" made by Hendrick Goltzius (1558 - 1617). Adam and Eve in Paradise is an wellknown theme in art but this Adam and Eve are special because as far as I know it is the only paradise scene in which Adam and Eve are portrayed as an amorous couple in an explicit seduction scene.
Goltzius started his oilpainting career around 1600. At that time he was famous all over Europe as a graphic artist. Some of his comtemporaries compared him with Albrecht Durer. Convinced of his talent he was inclined to agree with that ranking.
When he was one year old he burned his right hand.
He grew up with a mutilated hand he could not fully open. Nevertheless with this hand (he was right handed) he succeeded to become a famous artist.
He portrayed his own mutilated hand several times (see above) The story goes that once travelling abroad, he had to show his mutilated hand to prove that he was indeed the great artist Goltzius.
The Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem (Holland) has a large collection of his work, including many paintings, but not The Fall of Man. You have to travel to the United States (National Gallery of Art) to see Goltzius' Adam and Eve.
Natsume Soseki 1867-1916
When I studied the life and career of Hashiguchi Goyo, I discovered that he illustrated the first novel of the Japanese writer Natsume Soseki. During my stay in Japan I read almost all novels of Soseki, including his first one called "I am a cat". In the Meiji period Natsume Soseki was one of the youngsters sent out abroad to gather knowledge for the development of Japan. He was sent to Europe (United Kingdom) to study English literature. In his later years Soseki has written about his stay in England. It was the most miserable and loniest time of his life. Back in Japan he taught English literature but soon left the university to become a succesful writer. Even today he his still an icon of Japanese literature and the most important prewar modern writer of Japan.
His life coincided with the Meiji period. A turbulent period of modernization of the Japanese society after two centuries of isolation. The uneasy relationship between modernization (Westernization) and Japanese culture is one of the major themes of his work. In his novels one can taste the atmosphere of change in Japan, the way modernization affects individual relationhips and the uneasiness it produces. Natsume Soseki died at the age of 49 and left his last novel "Light and Darkness" unfinished.
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