DOI Heft:
No. 279 (June 1916)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21262#0084
Studio- Talk
A MSTERDAM.—Though young in appear- a clown proves him to be a physiognomist of
/ % ance, Piet van der liem is an artist of great power. His portraits, on the other hand,
/ % mature talent, and his work has in con- betoken a considerable concern about style,
* sequence already assumed an important and above all a desire to achieve elegance of
place in modern painting. As a landscape painter facture ; the arrangement, the mise-en-page, is a trifle
he could undoubtedly have excelled, but his innate commonplace, and emotion is altogether lacking,
preference has led him in the direction of genre but how skilfully he handles his crayons ■ In some
subjects, taken direct from life in crowded restau- of his large portraits he reveals himself as a painter
rants. The circus, the theatre, the ballet have also par excellence, and in their colour and composition
furnished him with material for expressive portraits we may be reminded for a moment of Zuloaga ;
and characteristic studies of the types to be found but curiously enough it is in his Spanish subjects
at these haunts of the seeker after amusement that the personal note is most apparent, as for
and the elegant demi-mondaine. And the artist's instance in Le Torero Hesse.
pictures give one the impression that he has really --
been present at these gatherings and has seen and Unlike certain artists who resort to seclusion
noted all that passes before his eyes—the sober in order the better to concentrate their energies,
bourgeois out "on the spree," the magnificently Van der Hem has preferred to wander ; he has in
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- "at the circus" by piet van der hem
able, and his painting of (Photo: Argus Photo Bureau, Amsterdam)
64
A MSTERDAM.—Though young in appear- a clown proves him to be a physiognomist of
/ % ance, Piet van der liem is an artist of great power. His portraits, on the other hand,
/ % mature talent, and his work has in con- betoken a considerable concern about style,
* sequence already assumed an important and above all a desire to achieve elegance of
place in modern painting. As a landscape painter facture ; the arrangement, the mise-en-page, is a trifle
he could undoubtedly have excelled, but his innate commonplace, and emotion is altogether lacking,
preference has led him in the direction of genre but how skilfully he handles his crayons ■ In some
subjects, taken direct from life in crowded restau- of his large portraits he reveals himself as a painter
rants. The circus, the theatre, the ballet have also par excellence, and in their colour and composition
furnished him with material for expressive portraits we may be reminded for a moment of Zuloaga ;
and characteristic studies of the types to be found but curiously enough it is in his Spanish subjects
at these haunts of the seeker after amusement that the personal note is most apparent, as for
and the elegant demi-mondaine. And the artist's instance in Le Torero Hesse.
pictures give one the impression that he has really --
been present at these gatherings and has seen and Unlike certain artists who resort to seclusion
noted all that passes before his eyes—the sober in order the better to concentrate their energies,
bourgeois out "on the spree," the magnificently Van der Hem has preferred to wander ; he has in
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- "at the circus" by piet van der hem
able, and his painting of (Photo: Argus Photo Bureau, Amsterdam)
64