Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman (1882-1945)

Estimate

70,000 - 100,000 EUR

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Description

Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman
recto: boerenwagen op een wegverso: zes ruiters
signed with the initials
oil on canvas (painted on both sides)
48,5 by 48 cm.
Recto: painted circa 1924. Verso: painted circa 1922.

Provenance

Job Hansen, Groningen
Jan G. Jordens, Groningen, and thence by descent

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, H.N.Werkman. Drukker-Schilder, November-December 1945

Literature

J. Martinet, De Schilderij Hendrik Werkman, Groningen 1982, p. 36, no 21, illustrated in colour (recto); p. 31, no. 18, illustrated in colour (verso)

Catalogue Note

Hendrik Werkman is especially known for his experiments with print techniques. The development of a personal, varied expression made him a remarkable innovator in twentieth-century art. Although less known, Werkman's paintings have a similar sense of innovation and introspection as his prints.

Werkman's work is quite different in theme than his fellow Groningen artists such as Jan Wiegers, Jan Altink and Johan Dijkstra who preferred working in the countryside and capture the Groningen landscape. With bright colours they expressed their mood and rapture in their work with faithfulness to their observation. In contrast, Werkman did not paint from the actual subject, but within the walls of his studio. Instead of painting reality, his art was based on the imagination. Anything that stimulated his fantasy or emotion could lead to a painting.

As early as the 1920's Werkman experimented with the effect of transparent colour surfaces in print techniques. The artist Kirchner inspired him to use a different technique in painting. Paint mixed with petrol on a canvas prepared with an absorbent ground. As the oil was absorbed by the ground it left a mat surface. This and Kirchner's wax technique (diluted oils mixed with beeswax) was widely used among Ploeg artists, including Werkman, as it was very well suited for expressionist technique, since this spreads better than oil paint and dries faster.

As to be seen in the present lot Boerenwagen op een weg Werkman created a dreamlike atmosphere in which emotion was conjurred by using soft, mat tones in the landscape and the figures.

Werkman's significance as an artist lies in the experimental nature of his work and the almost naïve openness with which he achieved this. These are the qualities which have given his prints and his paintings such a unique place in the development of Dutch visual art.

(Cf. Han Steenbruggen, The Paintings of H.N. Werkman, exhibition catalogue Groninger Museum, 1996, pp. 43-53, )