Piet Ouborg (1893-1956)
An Indonesian landscape
signed 'Ouborg' (in blue on the stretcher); with authentification by W. Jos de Gruyter (signed and stamped 'Ondergetekende verklaart dat dit een authentiek werk van P. Ouborg is' / The undersigned declares that this is an authentic work by P. Ouborg (twice stamped on the reverse); numbered '1172' (twice in blue on the reverse)
oil on canvas, 43x51 cm
Literature:
-Ruud Spruit, 'Indonesische Impressies, Nederlandse schilders in de Oost, uitgave Stichting Vrienden van het Westfries Museum, June 1992, ill. p. 17, no. 7.
-Rob Bouber, ‘Het experiment van Pieter Ouborg – "Heimwee naar het hart der dingen" ’, in magazine Vitrine 6, no. 7 October/November 1993, ill. p. 23.
-B. Brommer, K. van Brakel, B. Carpenter, E.J.M. Douwes and R. Spruit, 'The Art of Collecting: East Indies paintings', Volendam LM Publishers 2019, ill. p. 34, no. 25.
Exhibited:
-The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Exhibition tour 1979-1981 with works of the descendants of Ouborg, in The Hague, Nuenen, Roermond (1979), Ravenstein, Amsterdam, Leeuwarden, Apeldoorn (1980), Schiedam (1981); the label 'Rondreistentoonstelling Galerie Nouvelles Images' is attached to the reverse.
-Westfries Museum, Hoorn, ‘Indonesische Impressies / Indonesian Impressions’, 1992.
-Nienhuis Gallery, Rokin Amsterdam, ‘Indonesische Impressies / Indonesian Impressions’, 1992.
-Dordrechts Museum, ‘ P. Ouborg, Heimwee naar het hart der dingen’, 24 October 1993-9 January 1994.
-Fries Museum, Leeuwarden , ‘Ouborg en Indië’, 3 November-24 February 2002.
In 1914 Piet Ouborg, educated as a teacher, was called up for military service. To evade this, he became a civil servant and was sent to the Dutch East Indies. He was 23 years old when he arrived there in 1916. He became a teacher at a primary school in Serang, West Java. He often had to change work locations. His artistic qualities, initially suppressed by his strict Calvinistic background, began to unfold cautiously. Deprived of contact with Europe and living far away from Batavia, his first works of art in the East Indies were primarily practice years. After a period of six years, during a long leave in the Netherlands, he obtained his secondary school certificate in drawing. Returning to Indonesia, he was appointed as an art teacher at a High School (‘H.B.S.’) in Batavia in 1926. This appointment gave Ouborg the opportunity to express more of himself in his work, both as a teacher and as an artist. For example, he encouraged his pupils to work abstractly, which was unheard of in those days. He was active in the Batavian art world and exhibited at the art society ‘Bataviasche Kunstkring’, where his work was removed in 1931 because it was seen as too erotic. This did not stop him from keeping to his artistic path. He delved deeply into the indogenous culture and felt a mystical connection to it. In this period, Ouborg collected Javanese masks. With painters Jan Frank, Adolf Breetveld and the cultural critic Van Tielrooy, this group of friends exchanged views, among other subjects on the indigenous culture. Van Tielrooy wrote in an article on painting in the Dutch-Indies in Elseviers Illustrated Monthly paper that ‘the only interesting painter there is Ouborg’. With its light and dark surface structure, its diagonals and almost geometric composition, the work on offer at the auction bears the hallmarks of the ‘Bergense School’ expressionism, as seen by Ouborg at a major retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in July 1924. The work demonstrates artistic growth during his second period in Indonesia, from 1925 until his leave in 1938, the year he returned to the Netherlands permanently.
Source: Rob Bouber, ‘Het experiment van Pieter Ouborg – “Heimwee naar het hart der dingen” ’, in Vitrine 6, no. 7 October/November 1993.
For this artist resale right is applicable from €2400 hammer price onwards
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
An Indonesian landscape
signed 'Ouborg' (in blue on the stretcher); with authentification by W. Jos de Gruyter (signed and stamped 'Ondergetekende verklaart dat dit een authentiek werk van P. Ouborg is' / The undersigned declares that this is an authentic work by P. Ouborg (twice stamped on the reverse); numbered '1172' (twice in blue on the reverse)
oil on canvas, 43x51 cm
Literature:
-Ruud Spruit, 'Indonesische Impressies, Nederlandse schilders in de Oost, uitgave Stichting Vrienden van het Westfries Museum, June 1992, ill. p. 17, no. 7.
-Rob Bouber, ‘Het experiment van Pieter Ouborg – "Heimwee naar het hart der dingen" ’, in magazine Vitrine 6, no. 7 October/November 1993, ill. p. 23.
-B. Brommer, K. van Brakel, B. Carpenter, E.J.M. Douwes and R. Spruit, 'The Art of Collecting: East Indies paintings', Volendam LM Publishers 2019, ill. p. 34, no. 25.
Exhibited:
-The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Exhibition tour 1979-1981 with works of the descendants of Ouborg, in The Hague, Nuenen, Roermond (1979), Ravenstein, Amsterdam, Leeuwarden, Apeldoorn (1980), Schiedam (1981); the label 'Rondreistentoonstelling Galerie Nouvelles Images' is attached to the reverse.
-Westfries Museum, Hoorn, ‘Indonesische Impressies / Indonesian Impressions’, 1992.
-Nienhuis Gallery, Rokin Amsterdam, ‘Indonesische Impressies / Indonesian Impressions’, 1992.
-Dordrechts Museum, ‘ P. Ouborg, Heimwee naar het hart der dingen’, 24 October 1993-9 January 1994.
-Fries Museum, Leeuwarden , ‘Ouborg en Indië’, 3 November-24 February 2002.
In 1914 Piet Ouborg, educated as a teacher, was called up for military service. To evade this, he became a civil servant and was sent to the Dutch East Indies. He was 23 years old when he arrived there in 1916. He became a teacher at a primary school in Serang, West Java. He often had to change work locations. His artistic qualities, initially suppressed by his strict Calvinistic background, began to unfold cautiously. Deprived of contact with Europe and living far away from Batavia, his first works of art in the East Indies were primarily practice years. After a period of six years, during a long leave in the Netherlands, he obtained his secondary school certificate in drawing. Returning to Indonesia, he was appointed as an art teacher at a High School (‘H.B.S.’) in Batavia in 1926. This appointment gave Ouborg the opportunity to express more of himself in his work, both as a teacher and as an artist. For example, he encouraged his pupils to work abstractly, which was unheard of in those days. He was active in the Batavian art world and exhibited at the art society ‘Bataviasche Kunstkring’, where his work was removed in 1931 because it was seen as too erotic. This did not stop him from keeping to his artistic path. He delved deeply into the indogenous culture and felt a mystical connection to it. In this period, Ouborg collected Javanese masks. With painters Jan Frank, Adolf Breetveld and the cultural critic Van Tielrooy, this group of friends exchanged views, among other subjects on the indigenous culture. Van Tielrooy wrote in an article on painting in the Dutch-Indies in Elseviers Illustrated Monthly paper that ‘the only interesting painter there is Ouborg’. With its light and dark surface structure, its diagonals and almost geometric composition, the work on offer at the auction bears the hallmarks of the ‘Bergense School’ expressionism, as seen by Ouborg at a major retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in July 1924. The work demonstrates artistic growth during his second period in Indonesia, from 1925 until his leave in 1938, the year he returned to the Netherlands permanently.
Source: Rob Bouber, ‘Het experiment van Pieter Ouborg – “Heimwee naar het hart der dingen” ’, in Vitrine 6, no. 7 October/November 1993.
For this artist resale right is applicable from €2400 hammer price onwards
