Nicolaas Touwen

(Zwolle 1900 - Amsterdam 1978)
a) Bathing Balinese beauty
Signed and dated 1928 lower right
Mixed media on paper laid down on cardboard, 46.5 x 46.7 cm
b) Balinese women preparing the offer
Signed and dated 1928 lower right
Mixed media on paper laid down on cardboard, 35.1 x 44.6 cm
Provenance:
- Gallery Cojean, The Hague (1960s)
- Private collection, the Netherlands
Note:
Perhaps as the most artistic Lieutenant in the Dutch army, Touwen depicted life in a beautiful way on his journeys around the archipelago of Indonesia. These two watercolours are not the only proof Touwen was not an artist without merit, for he exhibited his work in Jakarta twice; at Kunstzaal Kolff & Co. in 1935 and the Bataviasche Kunstkring in 1936. Although perhaps not as famous, the quality of Touwen's oeuvre equals that of Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981) and Adrien-Jean le Mayeur de Merprès (1880-1958) and it is very rare to appear at auction.
(2x)