This weekend we paid a visit to the Assen Museum, where we enjoyed an exhibition of a number of paintings and drawings of Jan Mankes. This painter belonged to no school whatsoever (although his work reminds sometimes of the young Mondriaan) but was both in techniques and style his own master. At 30 he died of TBC. He must have done nothing else but painting and drawing because he left a big collection of paintings, drawings, etches etc. Especially portraits, landscapes, animals and flowers in vases were his favorite subjects. He is fascinating because of the Vermeer-like atmosphere in many of his paintings: serene, meditating, almost religious. He was married to the first female theologian in the Netherlands, Maria Zernike, both agreed in their religious viewpoints.
An unforgettable artist! (I hesitate to put the exclamation mark, which he certainly would have disapproved).
The Assen museum:
1 comment:
The museum looks like a beautiful building. The Netherlands has an incredibly rich heritage in the visual arts! I'll have to investigate Mankes' work some more.
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