SUZE ROBERTSON
1855 – The Hague – 1922
SARA
black chalk on paper, 195 x 164 mm
signed lower right: Suze Robertson, inscribed upper left: Sara
date: c. 1910
provenance:
the artist’s estate, no. T143;
Sara Eckhart-Bisschop (1894-1992), daughter of the artist;
David Eckart, son of the above;
Bubb Kuyper Auctioneer of Books, Haarlem, May 20th, 2022 lot 6063.
This enigmatic depiction of a head is both characteristic of the sitter and universal in its reduction of detail to the bare minimum. Suze Robertson renders the likeness of her daughter Sara, very sensitively It is a highly unconventional portrait in relation to what established artists in the Netherlands were doing at the beginning of the twentieth century. The image is constructed through a dense accumulation of dark tones in black crayon, applied largely without clearly legible contours or continuous modeling lines, with the exception of the silhouette of the head and shoulders. Form is articulated primarily through tonal variation and surface texture rather than linear definition. Stylistically, the drawing recalls George Seurat’s black crayon works, particularly in its emphasis on tonal construction and rhythmic mark-making.
Fig. 1 George Seurat, Madame Seurat, the Artist’s Mother, 1882/3, conté crayon on Michallet paper, 30.5 × 23.3 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, inv.no. 2002.51
The present drawing is highly expressive and reflects broader European developments in which artistic self-expression and the emotional potential of form were central concerns. While trained within the tradition of the Hague School, Robertson deliberately moved beyond its emphasis on atmospheric naturalism, forging a distinctive visual language. Over the course of nearly four decades, she developed an oeuvre of still lifes, figure studies, nudes, and austere interiors in which everyday motifs are transformed into images of restraint, intensity, and timelessness, as evident in this work.
Through this approach, Robertson positioned herself between established nineteenth-century conventions and emerging modernist tendencies, laying important groundwork for expressionism in the Netherlands. Toward the end of her life, she became a key source of inspiration for younger artists, including Piet Mondrian, and a role model for women artists such as Charley Toorop. Her contemporaries regarded her, alongside Vincent van Gogh, as one of the founders of modern art in the Netherlands.
Born in 1894, Sara grew up during a period in which Suze Robertson was determined to sustain her artistic practice. In order to continue painting, Robertson occasionally relied on the assistance of a nursemaid. Making a living from the sale of their work proved difficult for Robertson and her husband, the artist Richard (Christopher) Bisschop, whose career was less successful. When financial circumstances became particularly strained, the couple decided in 1902 to place Sara with a foster family. From February 1903 until the end of 1914, Sara lived with a series of foster families. From the age of thirteen, in 1907, she attended the Academy, marking the beginning of her formal artistic training. After completing her studies, she received a Royal subsidy for several years, which supported her early career as an independent artist. Sara returned to live with her parents in 1915. Although mother and daughter then shared a household, their relationship cannot be described as one of artistic collaboration. Robertson and Bisschop deliberately chose not to train their daughter themselves, believing that her artistic education should be shaped by external institutions and mentors rather than by parental instruction.
Suze Robertson, born in The Hague, occupied an exceptional position within Dutch art around 1900. As one of the first professional women artists in the Netherlands, she worked in a predominantly male artistic environment and consciously distanced herself from prevailing expectations regarding female artists and “appropriate” subject matter.
Robertson was well integrated in contemporary artistic circles. As a member of Pulchri Studio in The Hague, she regularly exhibited her work and maintained contact with artists such as George Breitner and Hendrik Willem Mesdag. At the same time, she pursued an independent artistic path. Whereas many of her contemporaries remained committed to direct observation and naturalistic representation, Robertson increasingly emphasized the expressive potential of form and color as carriers of emotions. This shift aligned her work with broader European developments toward modernism and expressionism, while setting her apart from both academic painting and dominant realist traditions.
In her later work, Robertson’s style became more forceful and her use of color increasingly non-naturalistic, without fully abandoning figuration. This placed her in a distinct position relative to younger avant-garde movements in France and Germany, which more radically rejected representational form. It was precisely this balanced approach—grounded in tradition yet oriented toward innovation—that made her work influential for a subsequent generation of artists.