Jaap Gidding (1887-1955), Pattern design with branches
Jaap Gidding (1887-1955)
Pattern design with branches
signed 'JaapG' (lower right)
pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper, unframed, 69x69,5 cm
Provenance:-Collection of the family of the artist.
This work is part of the collection of works by Jaap Gidding that have been passed down through successive generations of his family. Having remained in the possession of the artist’s descendants and never previously appeared on the art market, these works offer a rare insight into Gidding’s studio practice, his creative process and the diverse projects he undertook throughout his career.Born in Rotterdam on 10 May 1887, Jaap Gidding grew up in an artistic family in which painting, decoration and craftsmanship were an integral part of everyday life. His father, grandfather, uncles and brother were all professionally involved in painting or decorative arts. His grandfather established a painting business in 1887, specialising in decorative painting, which was continued by the family. Gidding studied at the Academie van Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen in Rotterdam, while gaining practical experience in the family workshop. In 1914, he and his brother Jan took over the business from their father and expanded its activities into the applied artsThe workshop became a place where traditional craftsmanship met artistic experimentation. Among those who received early professional experience in this environment was Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), who would later become one of the most influential figures in Abstract Expressionism. The practical skills acquired in a decorative workshop, including the preparation and handling of paint, formed an important part of the training available to young artists of the period.Gidding is perhaps best known for his exuberant decorative contributions to the Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam, one of the most striking examples of the integration of architecture, ornament and the applied arts in the Netherlands. Yet to consider him merely a decorator would be to overlook the breadth of his artistic practice. He designed stained-glass windows, mosaics, carpets, textiles, wallpaper, curtains and decorative panels, as well as glassware and ceramics. Alongside this extensive work in the applied arts, he maintained a practice as an independent artist, producing drawings, watercolours and oil paintings.The present collection offers a particularly intimate view of this multifaceted artist. Alongside designs for wallpaper, carpets and wall tapestries, it includes landscape studies, watercolours, drawings of family members and other subjects drawn from his immediate surroundings. These works reveal a more personal side of Gidding's practice, in which observation, experimentation and the pleasure of drawing take precedence over the demands of a finished decorative commission. The landscapes of Munich and its surroundings, including the views represented by lots 518 and 523, are especially revealing in this respect. They document his engagement with the natural environment during his years in Germany, while offering a glimpse of the places that shaped his artistic development.Gidding spent the years 1908-1912 in Munich, where he encountered a flourishing artistic culture and worked in the field of theatrical decoration. He returned to Germany in the 1920s, further developing his international outlook. German artistic influences have often been identified as a defining characteristic of his work, particularly in his expressive use of colour, strong compositions and pronounced decorative sensibility. Yet these influences never resulted in a rigid or uniform style. Instead, Gidding absorbed ideas from a wide range of artistic and architectural movements, adapting them to his own visual language.This openness is apparent in the variety of works brought together here. The intimate family drawings and landscape studies demonstrate an artist attentive to the particularities of his subjects, while his more elaborately executed paintings reveal his instinct for stylisation and ornamental composition. Particularly characteristic are the paintings of deer set within wooded landscapes (lots 508, 516 and 521). Here, natural forms are transformed into carefully balanced compositions in which the animals, trees and surrounding vegetation become elements of a decorative whole. The distinction between the observed landscape and the designed image becomes increasingly fluid, revealing how closely Gidding's independent painting was connected to his work as a decorative artist.The tapestry designs and other ornamental studies provide a further insight into his creative process. Rather than viewing such designs as secondary to his paintings, it is more fruitful to consider them as part of a continuous artistic practice in which drawing, colour, pattern and composition informed one another. Gidding moved freely between the intimate scale of a sketch and the demands of a monumental interior, bringing the same sensitivity to line, rhythm and colour to both.Attempts to place Gidding within a single artistic movement, whether the Amsterdam School, Art Nouveau or Art Deco, inevitably capture only part of his achievement. His work reflects the changing visual culture of the early twentieth century, encompassing expressive forms, geometric patterning and a rich ornamental vocabulary. His ability to move between these approaches was not a contradiction, but rather a defining feature of his versatility.Gidding was not inclined to formulate elaborate artistic theories or to explain his work through manifestos. His art speaks instead through its material qualities, its carefully considered compositions and its evident delight in visual invention. Whether in a preliminary drawing, a watercolour of a landscape, a painting of deer in the woods or a design intended to transform an architectural interior, his work demonstrates a consistent belief in the expressive power of form and colour.Died in Hillegersberg on 23 April 1955, Gidding left behind a body of work that extends far beyond his best-known decorative commissions. The present collection from the artist’s studio brings together different facets of this practice, from personal observations and intimate subjects to ambitious ornamental designs and finished paintings. Seen together, these works offer a more complete understanding of Gidding: not simply as a decorator of interiors, but as a versatile artist whose independent work and applied designs were united by an enduring sensitivity to colour, pattern and the decorative potential of the world around him.
Jaap Gidding (1887-1955)
Pattern design with branches
signed 'JaapG' (lower right)
pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper, unframed, 69x69,5 cm
Provenance:-Collection of the family of the artist.
This work is part of the collection of works by Jaap Gidding that have been passed down through successive generations of his family. Having remained in the possession of the artist’s descendants and never previously appeared on the art market, these works offer a rare insight into Gidding’s studio practice, his creative process and the diverse projects he undertook throughout his career.Born in Rotterdam on 10 May 1887, Jaap Gidding grew up in an artistic family in which painting, decoration and craftsmanship were an integral part of everyday life. His father, grandfather, uncles and brother were all professionally involved in painting or decorative arts. His grandfather established a painting business in 1887, specialising in decorative painting, which was continued by the family. Gidding studied at the Academie van Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen in Rotterdam, while gaining practical experience in the family workshop. In 1914, he and his brother Jan took over the business from their father and expanded its activities into the applied artsThe workshop became a place where traditional craftsmanship met artistic experimentation. Among those who received early professional experience in this environment was Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), who would later become one of the most influential figures in Abstract Expressionism. The practical skills acquired in a decorative workshop, including the preparation and handling of paint, formed an important part of the training available to young artists of the period.Gidding is perhaps best known for his exuberant decorative contributions to the Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam, one of the most striking examples of the integration of architecture, ornament and the applied arts in the Netherlands. Yet to consider him merely a decorator would be to overlook the breadth of his artistic practice. He designed stained-glass windows, mosaics, carpets, textiles, wallpaper, curtains and decorative panels, as well as glassware and ceramics. Alongside this extensive work in the applied arts, he maintained a practice as an independent artist, producing drawings, watercolours and oil paintings.The present collection offers a particularly intimate view of this multifaceted artist. Alongside designs for wallpaper, carpets and wall tapestries, it includes landscape studies, watercolours, drawings of family members and other subjects drawn from his immediate surroundings. These works reveal a more personal side of Gidding's practice, in which observation, experimentation and the pleasure of drawing take precedence over the demands of a finished decorative commission. The landscapes of Munich and its surroundings, including the views represented by lots 518 and 523, are especially revealing in this respect. They document his engagement with the natural environment during his years in Germany, while offering a glimpse of the places that shaped his artistic development.Gidding spent the years 1908-1912 in Munich, where he encountered a flourishing artistic culture and worked in the field of theatrical decoration. He returned to Germany in the 1920s, further developing his international outlook. German artistic influences have often been identified as a defining characteristic of his work, particularly in his expressive use of colour, strong compositions and pronounced decorative sensibility. Yet these influences never resulted in a rigid or uniform style. Instead, Gidding absorbed ideas from a wide range of artistic and architectural movements, adapting them to his own visual language.This openness is apparent in the variety of works brought together here. The intimate family drawings and landscape studies demonstrate an artist attentive to the particularities of his subjects, while his more elaborately executed paintings reveal his instinct for stylisation and ornamental composition. Particularly characteristic are the paintings of deer set within wooded landscapes (lots 508, 516 and 521). Here, natural forms are transformed into carefully balanced compositions in which the animals, trees and surrounding vegetation become elements of a decorative whole. The distinction between the observed landscape and the designed image becomes increasingly fluid, revealing how closely Gidding's independent painting was connected to his work as a decorative artist.The tapestry designs and other ornamental studies provide a further insight into his creative process. Rather than viewing such designs as secondary to his paintings, it is more fruitful to consider them as part of a continuous artistic practice in which drawing, colour, pattern and composition informed one another. Gidding moved freely between the intimate scale of a sketch and the demands of a monumental interior, bringing the same sensitivity to line, rhythm and colour to both.Attempts to place Gidding within a single artistic movement, whether the Amsterdam School, Art Nouveau or Art Deco, inevitably capture only part of his achievement. His work reflects the changing visual culture of the early twentieth century, encompassing expressive forms, geometric patterning and a rich ornamental vocabulary. His ability to move between these approaches was not a contradiction, but rather a defining feature of his versatility.Gidding was not inclined to formulate elaborate artistic theories or to explain his work through manifestos. His art speaks instead through its material qualities, its carefully considered compositions and its evident delight in visual invention. Whether in a preliminary drawing, a watercolour of a landscape, a painting of deer in the woods or a design intended to transform an architectural interior, his work demonstrates a consistent belief in the expressive power of form and colour.Died in Hillegersberg on 23 April 1955, Gidding left behind a body of work that extends far beyond his best-known decorative commissions. The present collection from the artist’s studio brings together different facets of this practice, from personal observations and intimate subjects to ambitious ornamental designs and finished paintings. Seen together, these works offer a more complete understanding of Gidding: not simply as a decorator of interiors, but as a versatile artist whose independent work and applied designs were united by an enduring sensitivity to colour, pattern and the decorative potential of the world around him.
