1876 The Hague – 1923 Domburg
PREPATORY STUDY FOR PAINTING BILD NO 33
watercolor on paper, 460 x 615 mm
signed lower right: JvH
date: 1915
provenance:
Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 13 December 1990, lot 29;
with Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 1991;
Christie’s Amsterdam, 6 December 1995, lot 171;
Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 4 June 1996, lot 189;
with Renee Smitshuis Kunsthandel, 1996;
Willem Hoogendijk, Utrecht, probably acquired from the above;
Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 6 December 2006, lot 12;with Kunsthandel Studio 2000, Blaricum;
with Jason Jacques Gallery, New York, 2024.
exhibited:
Utrecht; Centraal Museum, Uit de collectie Willem Hoogendijk: Van Roelofs tot van de
Zweep, March 19 – May 16 2005.
literature:
– A.H. Huussen jr., J.F.A. van Paaschen-Louwerse, Jacoba van Heemskerck van Beest,
Schilderes uit roeping, Zwolle, 2005, cat. no. 258.
The present drawing is the prepatory drawing for Bild no. 33. Here you can compare the painting which is held at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague. They published the following text on their painting:
It is her father Jacob Eduard van Heemskerck van Beest who teaches Jacoba the first principles of painting. As an officer in the Royal Navy, seascapes are a favorite. Later, Jacoba takes long walks along the beach with Marie Tak van Poortvliet during their summers in Domburg. The colors of the sea, so infinitely varied by the light of the sun, also fascinate her.
A turning point in her artistic development takes place in September 1913, when she is one of the few women to participate in the great expressionist event the Erste Deutsche Herbstsalon in Berlin, organized by the musician, poet and art critic Herwarth Walden. He becomes her patron and organizes exhibitions for her at his art gallery Der Sturm, where Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and August Macke also exhibit. Like Jacoba van Heemskerck, these expressionists create colorful and abstract work with a deeper inner meaning.
It is during this period that her seascapes become symbolist in nature; for Jacoba, they reflect the development of mankind. The little ships far away at sea are still frail and vulnerable to headwinds. In the foreground are the sturdy ships with colorful sails proudly blowing in the wind; the symbol of complete spiritual development. This painting with its moving lines in contrasting colors is so spontaneously painted that her friend Marie Tak van Poortvliet is amazed. She notes that the strict symmetry of Van Heemskerck’s previous works has disappeared: “This painting only expresses the unprecedented joy of free expression.”