Willem Dooijewaard (1892-1980)
'Tempelhoekje' / A Balinese temple view
signed and annotated 'W. Dooyewaard / Bali' (lower right)
charcoal and pastels, heightened in white, on coloured paper, 59x75 cm
Exhibited: -Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 'Bali, Schilderijen en Teekeningen van Willem Dooyewaard', 9-30 September 1933, exhibited as no. 42: ‘Tempelhoekje’, priced at 200 Dutch guilders. -The Hague, Pulchri Studio, 'Bali, Schilderijen en Teekeningen van Willem Dooyewaard', 22 December 1933 – 14 January 1934, no. 42: ‘Tempelhoekje’, annotated ‘in particulier bezit’ (‘private collection’).
Literature:
-J.P. Koenraads, 'De Gebroeders Jacob en Willem Dooijewaard', Hilversum 1966, ill. p. 92. -D.H. Dhaimeler, 'W. Dooijewaard, a Dutch artist in Indonesia', Jakarta 1992, ill. p. 150.
Provenance: -Private collection, the Netherlands, acquired from the artist at the Stedelijk Museum exhibition Amsterdam, September 1933. -Private collection, the Netherlands.
A century ago, Indonesia -at that time still a Dutch colony- was a very popular destination for well-known Dutch artists; Willem Witsen (1921), Isaac Israels (1921-1922), Willy Sluiter (1923), H.P. Berlage (1923), and Marius Bauer (1925), among others, travelled to the Dutch East Indies in the early 1920s. Most of them, however, were just ‘passing by’; they resided in the Dutch colony, mostly Java, for a few months or a year at most. In this respect, Willem Dooijewaard was quite different. One could argue whether Dooijewaard -like his soul brother Roland Strasser (1886-1974)- was a painter who travelled or a traveller who painted. Be as it may, it is beyond any doubt that Dooijewaard had a great passion for indigenous Asian cultures. For more than 20 years, on and off between 1912 and 1933, he travelled through Asia.
Born in 1892 in Amsterdam, Willem Dooijewaard studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam. He spent six years at a rubber plantation in Sumatra, from 1913 until 1918, after which he set out for Bali in 1919. The following year he returned to Holland, to go back to Bali just a few months later. Dooijewaard resided in Bali in 1920, 1921-22 and 1931-33. Stylistically, these three periods differ quite a bit; his 1920 work comprises small pencil sketches with a documentary feel to them, similar to the sketches produced in Sumatra through 1918-1919. The lithographs he made upon his return to Holland transcend these academic sketches, although they are still made in a traditional way. The second part of his Balinese oeuvre is much more convincing: under the influence of Strasser, in 1921-1922 his sketches became more bold, his oils more determined, clearly choosing an almost divisionist style. He would use this painting technique in the years ahead, travelling through China, Mongolia, Tibet, India, and Japan. Roland Strasser, however, was not the only artist responsible for Dooijewaard’s shift to this divisionist style of painting. Another Austrian artist and art professor, Carl Fahringer (1874-1952), played a vital role too. Strasser and Fahringer must have known each other before they even embarked on their travels to Southeast Asia: both being Austrian, they studied -and Fahringer also taught- at the Vienna and Munich Academy, and both were war painters during World War I. Fact is that Strasser, Dooijewaard and Fahringer met, and probably even worked together in 1922. A nifty charcoal portrait from 1922 by Dooijewaard of ‘Prof. Fahringer, from Austria’ while sketching proves their acquaintance. By and large, it is safe to assume that Fahringer influenced not only Emil Rizek (1901-1988), but also Strasser, and in turn Dooijewaard, to develop their early 1920s post-impressionist style. Although Fahringer himself would stick to this style until the 1930s, Strasser and Dooijewaard would clearly change direction in the years that followed, probably feeling more comfortable with the impressionist style of painting they are commonly known for.
Dooijewaard’s drawing style however, didn’t change dramatically. This is clearly shown in a series of large charcoal drawings, made in Bali in 1931-1932, of which the current lot is a typical example. From a distance, there is a photo-realistic quality to these large drawings, often comprising architecture drawn in flawless perspective. Yet, upon closer inspection, one can clearly see the echo of Dooijewaard’s post-impressionist drawing style. Typically, this series of large drawings was made on the verso of a 60 x 75 cm lithograph from the 1920s, which portrays two veiled young women. The thick paper was already coloured at the time, because not only did Dooijewaard apply charcoal and brown pastels, but he also highlighted certain parts of the sky, shining through the palm trees, and some subtle details in the human figures, with white gouache. This obviously only makes sense if the drawing medium is coloured.
Willem Dooijewaard was a well-known artist in the Dutch East Indies of the early 1930s. He and Roland Strasser exhibited their paintings at the Bataviasche Kunstkring, during September 1932. According to Dooijewaard’s own account, he also exhibited in Surabaya, Malang, and Yogjakarta in 1932-1933. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Dooijewaard managed to exhibit his Balinese work at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, from 9-30 September 1933. Apart from 35 oils, 20 charcoal drawings were exhibited, among which the current lot. Although it was sold, the drawing reappeared at a consecutive exhibition at Pulchri Studio, The Hague, of which Dooijewaard was a valued member, in December 1933. In the November 1933 issue of Nederlandsch Indië Oud en Nieuw, Theodoor van Lelyveld, author and friend of Dooijewaard, wrote:
‘The exhibition of part of Dooyewaard’s Balinese oeuvre, accumulated recently for the benefit of the Amsterdam Crisis Committee at the Stedelijk Museum, attests to his tough efficacy, and to his extraordinary understanding of the Balinese people and atmosphere. […] Dooyewaard did not imagine of this fairytale island any Far Eastern dreams or fantastic depictions. He considered reality to be sufficient, and generously visualised this reality, in vigorously, broadly painted colour gamuts.’ (Theodoor van Lelyveld, Willem Dooyewaard op Bali, in Nederlandsch Indië Oud en Nieuw, November 1933)
Indeed, in the current lot we see a non-romanticised impression of a Balinese house temple complex. It seems to incorporate a bathing facility, the entrance of which is a modest split gate (candi bentar). The woman on the left is carrying a ceramic jar on the head, on her way to the market. The impressionist Willem Dooijewaard caught locals during their daily chores, and therefore caught the atmosphere of Bali. His own words best capture the essence of the way he saw the Island of the Gods:
‘… an unspoilt part of the earth, where man, nurtured by the sun’s warmth and supported by their Gods, lives happily, diligently, and cheerfully, in the lush natural environment, which they enrich with countless beautiful expressions of their powerful art and their religious touch. How beautiful are their bare, shiny and therefore colour-reflecting bodies in the golden glory of the morning light, how agile and rhythmic do they move along mountain paths and below the gigantic, sacred waringin trees. Just look at them go, the young, robust men and the slender, young women in their vivid robes.’ (Willem Dooijewaard, describing Bali in a letter to Th. B. van Lelyveld)
Gianni Orsini MSc., October 2022
For this artist resale right is applicable from € 2400 hammer price onwards
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'Tempelhoekje' / A Balinese temple view
signed and annotated 'W. Dooyewaard / Bali' (lower right)
charcoal and pastels, heightened in white, on coloured paper, 59x75 cm
Exhibited: -Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 'Bali, Schilderijen en Teekeningen van Willem Dooyewaard', 9-30 September 1933, exhibited as no. 42: ‘Tempelhoekje’, priced at 200 Dutch guilders. -The Hague, Pulchri Studio, 'Bali, Schilderijen en Teekeningen van Willem Dooyewaard', 22 December 1933 – 14 January 1934, no. 42: ‘Tempelhoekje’, annotated ‘in particulier bezit’ (‘private collection’).
Literature:
-J.P. Koenraads, 'De Gebroeders Jacob en Willem Dooijewaard', Hilversum 1966, ill. p. 92. -D.H. Dhaimeler, 'W. Dooijewaard, a Dutch artist in Indonesia', Jakarta 1992, ill. p. 150.
Provenance: -Private collection, the Netherlands, acquired from the artist at the Stedelijk Museum exhibition Amsterdam, September 1933. -Private collection, the Netherlands.
A century ago, Indonesia -at that time still a Dutch colony- was a very popular destination for well-known Dutch artists; Willem Witsen (1921), Isaac Israels (1921-1922), Willy Sluiter (1923), H.P. Berlage (1923), and Marius Bauer (1925), among others, travelled to the Dutch East Indies in the early 1920s. Most of them, however, were just ‘passing by’; they resided in the Dutch colony, mostly Java, for a few months or a year at most. In this respect, Willem Dooijewaard was quite different. One could argue whether Dooijewaard -like his soul brother Roland Strasser (1886-1974)- was a painter who travelled or a traveller who painted. Be as it may, it is beyond any doubt that Dooijewaard had a great passion for indigenous Asian cultures. For more than 20 years, on and off between 1912 and 1933, he travelled through Asia.
Born in 1892 in Amsterdam, Willem Dooijewaard studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam. He spent six years at a rubber plantation in Sumatra, from 1913 until 1918, after which he set out for Bali in 1919. The following year he returned to Holland, to go back to Bali just a few months later. Dooijewaard resided in Bali in 1920, 1921-22 and 1931-33. Stylistically, these three periods differ quite a bit; his 1920 work comprises small pencil sketches with a documentary feel to them, similar to the sketches produced in Sumatra through 1918-1919. The lithographs he made upon his return to Holland transcend these academic sketches, although they are still made in a traditional way. The second part of his Balinese oeuvre is much more convincing: under the influence of Strasser, in 1921-1922 his sketches became more bold, his oils more determined, clearly choosing an almost divisionist style. He would use this painting technique in the years ahead, travelling through China, Mongolia, Tibet, India, and Japan. Roland Strasser, however, was not the only artist responsible for Dooijewaard’s shift to this divisionist style of painting. Another Austrian artist and art professor, Carl Fahringer (1874-1952), played a vital role too. Strasser and Fahringer must have known each other before they even embarked on their travels to Southeast Asia: both being Austrian, they studied -and Fahringer also taught- at the Vienna and Munich Academy, and both were war painters during World War I. Fact is that Strasser, Dooijewaard and Fahringer met, and probably even worked together in 1922. A nifty charcoal portrait from 1922 by Dooijewaard of ‘Prof. Fahringer, from Austria’ while sketching proves their acquaintance. By and large, it is safe to assume that Fahringer influenced not only Emil Rizek (1901-1988), but also Strasser, and in turn Dooijewaard, to develop their early 1920s post-impressionist style. Although Fahringer himself would stick to this style until the 1930s, Strasser and Dooijewaard would clearly change direction in the years that followed, probably feeling more comfortable with the impressionist style of painting they are commonly known for.
Dooijewaard’s drawing style however, didn’t change dramatically. This is clearly shown in a series of large charcoal drawings, made in Bali in 1931-1932, of which the current lot is a typical example. From a distance, there is a photo-realistic quality to these large drawings, often comprising architecture drawn in flawless perspective. Yet, upon closer inspection, one can clearly see the echo of Dooijewaard’s post-impressionist drawing style. Typically, this series of large drawings was made on the verso of a 60 x 75 cm lithograph from the 1920s, which portrays two veiled young women. The thick paper was already coloured at the time, because not only did Dooijewaard apply charcoal and brown pastels, but he also highlighted certain parts of the sky, shining through the palm trees, and some subtle details in the human figures, with white gouache. This obviously only makes sense if the drawing medium is coloured.
Willem Dooijewaard was a well-known artist in the Dutch East Indies of the early 1930s. He and Roland Strasser exhibited their paintings at the Bataviasche Kunstkring, during September 1932. According to Dooijewaard’s own account, he also exhibited in Surabaya, Malang, and Yogjakarta in 1932-1933. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Dooijewaard managed to exhibit his Balinese work at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, from 9-30 September 1933. Apart from 35 oils, 20 charcoal drawings were exhibited, among which the current lot. Although it was sold, the drawing reappeared at a consecutive exhibition at Pulchri Studio, The Hague, of which Dooijewaard was a valued member, in December 1933. In the November 1933 issue of Nederlandsch Indië Oud en Nieuw, Theodoor van Lelyveld, author and friend of Dooijewaard, wrote:
‘The exhibition of part of Dooyewaard’s Balinese oeuvre, accumulated recently for the benefit of the Amsterdam Crisis Committee at the Stedelijk Museum, attests to his tough efficacy, and to his extraordinary understanding of the Balinese people and atmosphere. […] Dooyewaard did not imagine of this fairytale island any Far Eastern dreams or fantastic depictions. He considered reality to be sufficient, and generously visualised this reality, in vigorously, broadly painted colour gamuts.’ (Theodoor van Lelyveld, Willem Dooyewaard op Bali, in Nederlandsch Indië Oud en Nieuw, November 1933)
Indeed, in the current lot we see a non-romanticised impression of a Balinese house temple complex. It seems to incorporate a bathing facility, the entrance of which is a modest split gate (candi bentar). The woman on the left is carrying a ceramic jar on the head, on her way to the market. The impressionist Willem Dooijewaard caught locals during their daily chores, and therefore caught the atmosphere of Bali. His own words best capture the essence of the way he saw the Island of the Gods:
‘… an unspoilt part of the earth, where man, nurtured by the sun’s warmth and supported by their Gods, lives happily, diligently, and cheerfully, in the lush natural environment, which they enrich with countless beautiful expressions of their powerful art and their religious touch. How beautiful are their bare, shiny and therefore colour-reflecting bodies in the golden glory of the morning light, how agile and rhythmic do they move along mountain paths and below the gigantic, sacred waringin trees. Just look at them go, the young, robust men and the slender, young women in their vivid robes.’ (Willem Dooijewaard, describing Bali in a letter to Th. B. van Lelyveld)
Gianni Orsini MSc., October 2022
For this artist resale right is applicable from € 2400 hammer price onwards
Sale price
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
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