Jacoba van Heemskerck
JACOBA VAN HEEMSKERCK
EDUCATION
Jonkvrouw Jacoba van Heemskerck van Beest has been surrounded by art since childhood. Her father Jacob van Heemskerck van Beest had become a successful naval painter after ending his career as a naval officer. After Van Heemskerck learned the basics at home, she takes several courses and classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague (c. 1891-1900). She does not feel very much at ease under the conservative and anti modernist climate prevailing at the school. After finishing her education in 1900, she goes to work one day a week at painter Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig’s studio in Laren. This was an artists’ colony where progressive artists worked. Hart Nibbrig was an innovative artist who was not inspired by the Hague School but by contemporary stylistic innovations in France, Neo-Impressionism in particular. The year 1901 is an important year, Van Heemskerck her mother died leaving her unmarried and independent. She moved from The Hague to Hilversum. She made the brave decision to pursue a career as a professional artist. She decided that it would be best for her development to work in Paris, the epic center of the avant-garde.
PARIS 1901-1904
In the French capital, Van Heemskerck worked at the Academie Carrière for about six months. It was a private training institute run by symbolist painter Eugène Carrière. The Dutch Symbolist artist Jan Toorop probably introduced Van Heemskerck to Carrière in Paris. The Academie is an interesting and deliberate choice by Van Heemskerck. The institute was known for stimulating students to develop their own style. This attracted many interesting young artists such as Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse at the time. Van Heemskerck was influenced by Carrière’s philosophy and style. The continuous flowing line as an independent means of expression with which Carrière composed his paintings and his painterly view that through light the essential could be rendered is evident in her work. Carrière’s intentions of visualizing the inner light of his portrayed rather than rendering their facial features as realistically as possible inspired her. From 1901-1904 Van Heemskerck lived and worked alternately in Paris and Hilversum. She exhibited work at the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpturs exhibition at the Grand Palais in 1904. Probably because of her asthmatic conditions, the smoke pollution in the French capital did not allow for a longer stay in Paris. She returned seriously ill to Hilversum in 1904.
MOVING TO THE HAGUE – MARIE TAK VAN POORTVLIET 1905
Marie Tak van Poortvliet was Van Heemskerck’s the life partner and patron. The wealthy Tak van Poortvliet family originally came from the province of Zeeland. They owned several estates there. In 1904 her father died and she inherited a very large fortune. Tak van Poortvliet sold her childhood home where she had previously lived with her father and bought another house for herself in The Hague. This prompted Van Heemskerck to move to a house around the corner of Tak van Poortvliet in 1905. In the summer of that year, while staying in Domburg, Zeeland, Tak van Poortvliet bought a plot of land and commissioned the design for a country cottage. Together with Van Heemskerck, Tak van Poortvliet built one of the most interesting collections of modern art in the Netherlands over the years. This collection contemporary art consisted of important works by Van Heemskerck, Kandinsky, Marc, Mondrian, etc. After Van Heemskerck’s death Tak van Poortvliet managed the artist’s estate which was given to the Kunstmuseum in The Hague where I remains until today.
RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
Central to Van Heemskerck’s work is the depiction of spiritual values as embodied in nature and life. Tak van Poortvliet writes: ‚The interest art takes in nature begins at the moment that re-creation sets in. Yet it wants a long study to reach that aim, not a technical study as the academy gives it, which is only part of it and leads up to skillfulness of hand, but a study of all that which nature contains is spiritual worths, of all that life can teach us of deep meaning and of the way in which these two factors have an influence on each other.’
From an early age, Van Heemskerck was a religious and spiritual person. The traditional Christian Church did not offer her the framework and fulfillment she was looking for. The Theosophical Society suited her much better. In 1910, Van Heemskerck joined the society which was popular among avant-garde artists. Befriended artists such as Hart Nibbrig and Piet Mondrian were also members. The association’s three central goals, universal brotherhood, study of religion, philosophy and science, and investigation of the inexplicable laws of nature and of the faculties present in human talent appealed to her greatly. By studying the eternal esoteric wisdoms, man would find his own spiritual origin again.
In the following years Van Heemskerck became interested in Rudolf Steiner and his spiritual philosophy and occult science the Anthroposophy. This interest has a profound influence on her art. The Austrian Steiner connected modern art with spiritual science. Steiner’s spiritual conception of color combined Goethe’s color theory with Anthroposophy. Goethe’s approach was more about psychological and emotional effects of color, whereas Steiner’s system linked color to spiritual and metaphysical concepts, reflecting his broader anthroposophical worldview. Goethe was concerned with how color affected human emotion and perception. Steiner, while also concerned with human experience, had a more developmental and educational perspective, seeing color as an aid to spiritual and personal growth.
THE START OF HER CAREER 1905-1913
SINT LUCAS ARTISTS’ ASSOCIATION
During the second half of the first decade of the twentieth century, Van Heemskerck was part of a group of young progressive Dutch artists interested in modern art. Van Heemskerck, Jan Sluiters, Leo Gestel, Piet Mondrian, Conrad Kickert, Lodewijk Schelfhout and others were inspired by the latest stylistic developments in France instead of by work by the successful artist from the Hague School. The Netherlands is a small country, and it is not entirely surprising that the innovative young artists were in touch with one another. Most, like van Heemskerck, were members of the Sint Lucas artists’ association in Amsterdam. There were very few female members of Sint Lucas. The reason for this was that not many women chose to become professional artists. On top of that, a significant number of the female artists did not want to make modern art but preferred to make art for which there were better sales opportunities.
MONDRIAN
Part of todays Van Heemskerck’s fame is due to her connection with Mondrian, one of the world’s most famous twentieth century artists. Van Heemskerck and Mondrian were friends. Over a short period their work showed stylistic similarities. They both experimented in roughly simultaneous periods with Symbolism, Luminism and Cubism in the Netherlands. The artists belonged to the same generation and they both had successful careers abroad. The majority of the Dutch conservative audience considered their work too modern and too radical. Therefore, the importance of their endeavors was first acknowledged abroad. Theosophy and anthropology provided both with intellectual inspiration for their work. In recent years, Van Heemskerck has stepped out of Mondrian’s shadow and perceptions about Van Heemskerck’s work are changing. Her work is now perceived more in its own right. There is a growing appreciation that Van Heemskerck consciously turned away from Mondrian around 1913 and focused on a style all her own.
