Aart Johannes Cock (1905-1981)

At the café

signed 'Cock' (lower right)

oil on canvas, 64,5x64,5 cm

Provenance: -Collection of the daughter of the artist.
-Gifted from the above to the present owner.

Aart Cock was born on 13 May 1905 in Menado, Sulawesi (formerly Celebes). Although he attended the academy of art in The Hague, he lived and worked in Medan until 1939. In 1937 works of Cock were shown at the '2e Bondscollectie Indisch werk' at the Bataviasche Kunstkring and in May 1939 a solo exhibition of his works was organised by the 'Delischen Kunstkring' in Medan, the city where he taught at the H.B.S. Haks & Maris also mentions the 'Vrije Tentoonstelling' (Free Exhibition) of the 'Bataviasche Kunstkring' of 1939 in Jakarta (Batavia). The art critic of the Sumatra Post comments on Cock's 'most recent modern style of painting, which is described often as pitiless analytical realism which characterises so many modern artists'. This ‘pitiless analytical style’ is clearly seen in the present lot. After World War II, Cock lived in Makassar, Sulawesi, until 1950 before settling in The Hague.

Source:
-Haks & Maris, 'Lexicon of Foreign Artists who Visualized Indonesia (1600-1900)', p. 60.
-De Sumatra post, ‘Schilderijententoonstelling Werk van A. J. Cock’, Medan, 17-05-1939, p. 2.

For this artist resale right is applicable from € 2400 hammer price onwards