International studio (59.1916)

Studio-Talk

MSTERDAM.—Though young in appear-
/ % ance, Piet van der Hem is an artist of
/" mature talent, and his work has in con-
sequence already assumed an important
place in modern painting. As a landscape painter
he could undoubtedly have excelled, but his innate
preference has led him in the direction of genre
subjects, taken direct from life in crowded restau-
rants. The circus, the theatre, the ballet have also
furnished him with material for expressive portraits
and characteristic studies of the types to be found
at these haunts of the seeker after amusement
and the elegant demi-mondaine. And the artist’s
pictures give one the impression that he has really
been present at these gatherings and has seen and
noted all that passes before his eyes—the sober
bourgeois out “ on the spree,” the magnificently
accoutred “Grand Duke”
lounging in his private box,
beautiful women seated at
the tables. The mind’s eye
sees the flowers, the fruit,
and the champagne ; in the
hazy backgrounds the play
of subdued light makes itself
felt, and one can almost hear
the rippling laughter, the gay
badinage and even those
questions and answers that
are uttered sotto voce-
Van der Hem excels in this
species of genre painting ; he
is the interpreter of a caste,
like Steinlen for example,
of whom, by the way, he is
a great admirer.
But the great skill of this
artist plays about the surface
of things; his subjects are
observed in masterly fashion
rather than profoundly felt.
In his art there is no place
for the tragedy of life, that
indefinable poignant element
which we get in a Pierrot by
Villette, a character study
by Rops, or one of
Toulouse - Lautrec’s girls.
The attitudes and expres¬
sions of the negro and
negress in his picture of a
“ cake-walk ” are admir¬
able, and his painting of
64

a clown proves him to be a physiognomist of
great power. His portraits, on the other hand,
betoken a considerable concern about style,
and above all a desire to achieve elegance of
facture; the arrangement-, the mise-en-page, is a trifle
commonplace, and emotion is altogether lacking,
but how skilfully he handles his crayons ! In some
of his large portraits he reveals himself as a painter
par excellence, and in their colour and composition
we may be reminded for a moment of Zuloaga ;
but curiously enough it is in his Spanish subjects
that the personal note is most apparent, as for
instance in Le Torero blesse.

Unlike certain artists who resort to seclusion
in order the better to concentrate their energies,
Van der Hem has preferred to wander ; he has in


“AT THE CIRCUS ”

BY PIET VAN DER HEM

(Photo: Argus Photo Bureau, Amsterdam)