1881 Dordrecht – 1955 Santpoort
A PACK OF ABDULLAH CIGARETTES
oil on canvas, laid down on panel, 17 x 32.5 cm.
signed lower right: DN
provenance:
with G. J. Nieuwenhuizen Segaar, The Hague;
private collection, the Netherlands;
Venduehuis The Hague, 12 March 2025, lot 163.
An opened pack of Abdullah cigarettes is placed against a neutral ground, its contents exposed. The composition is tightly focused, with the cigarette pack isolated and presented frontally, emphasizing its material presence. Dirk Nijland shows the cigarette package out of context , allowing it to function as a carrier of meaning rather than as an ordinary utilitarian object. The restrained palette and deliberate brushwork draw attention to the pack’s angular form and the rhythmic repetition of the cigarettes within.
Abdullah cigarettes, a luxury brand of Oriental tobacco, were widely used in the early twentieth century, particularly at the beginning of the twentieth century. Their inclusion situates the work within a modern, urban context and serves as a subtle chronological marker. Rather than functioning as a descriptive still life, the motif is invested with a heightened presence, reflecting broader modernist interests in everyday commodities as vehicles of cultural meaning. Nijland, whose work was recognized by both national and international avant-garde circles, benefited from financial independence, which allowed him to pursue an open and experimental artistic practice.
Dirk Nijland was an important Dutch artist during the first half of the twentieth century. He was born into a wealthy family. His career and work are defined by independence. Unlike most of his contemporaries, who had to earn a living from their profession, Nijland did not follow the latest stylistic trends in order to please potential buyers, but sought his own path. His work is modern and his compositions often transmit an atmosphere of stillness and contemplation. Nijland found inspiration for his subjects in his immediate surroundings and his compositions stand out because of their unobtrusiveness. He was an extraordinary draughtsman and had a special talent for arranging intriguing compositions.
In 1901, Nijland’s work was first presented in the Netherlands at the First International Exhibition in The Hague. This exhibition was co-organized by Jan Toorop. Nijland’s drawings were shown there alongside works by Toorop, Vincent van Gogh, James Ensor, Paul Cézanne, Eduard Vuillard and other contemporaries. His work was positively received from the beginning.
The house Nijland grew up in was filled with avant-garde art. His father Hidde Nijland had been a very talented art collector, who was good friends with the influential artist and exhibition organizer Jan Toorop and owned more than a hundred drawings by Vincent van Gogh. Supported by his father, fifteen-year-old Dirk began his career as an artist as an apprentice in of Antoon Derkinderen in Laren. He continued his education at the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid Amsterdam and the Academie van Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen in Rotterdam. At the end of his artistic training in the Netherlands, young Nijland aspired to an international career at the center of the international avant-garde.
In the spring of 1900, Nijland left for Brussels. Toorop, the only Dutch member of the avant-garde circle Les Vingt, probably introduced him to the right people there. In Brussels, Nijland concentrated mainly on drawing. Furthermore, his interest in socialism is reflected in his work. In 1901 and 1902 he worked in Brussels and in Paris where the work of Georges Seurat and the late paintings of Vincent van Gogh were important sources of inspiration. The invitation to submit work to the exhibition of the artist circle La Libre Esthetique shows that he was beginning to break through as an artist in Brussels. It never came to a participation at the exhibition because Nijland was too eager to return to the Netherlands. He married Marie van der Meer de Walcheren in Belgium and, via a brief detour to Florence, returned to the Netherlands in circa 1904.
Nijland and his family settled in Rhoon a small town nearby Rotterdam in 1905. Around 1915, Nijland met Hendricus Bremmer, a highly influentialDutch painter, art critic, art teacher, collector and art dealer. Bremmer would have a relatively large influence on the development of Nijland’s career in the following years. Nijland was not dependent on financial support from the influential art critic and pedagogue. The most valuable thing Bremmer could offer Nijland was dialogue and advice. Bremmer advised the artist to concentrate more on the medium of woodcut. His prints are among the best produced in the Netherlands during this period. Bremmer references Nijland’s work in a number publications and several of his students acquired work by Nijland. The best known is probably Helene Kröller-Müller who purchased dozens of paintings, drawings and prints by Dirk Nijland.