WILLEM VAN DEN BERG (The Hague 1886 – Leiden 1970)
Two Fishermen
signed and dated Willem van den Berg 1914 in the lower right
charcoal and grey wash on beige paper
15.75 x 7.89 inches ( 40 x 20 cm.)
Upon viewing this drawing one is immediately struck by the date of 1914. Willem van den Berg has turned these fishermen into gladiators ready to do battle should the onslaught come. Their stoicism is defined by the figures’ monumentality as they peer into the unknown.
Van den Berg is known for works of still lifes, animals, genre, landscapes, and portraits, as well as peasants, farmers, and particularly Scheveningen, Spakenburg and Volendam fisherfolk. He first trained with his father Andries van den Berg, a painter, print-maker, and teacher at the Academy in The Hague. He later enrolled at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunst, The Hague, and was a student of Carel Frederick Louis Wild, as well as Willem Adriaan van Konijnenburg. Van den Berg took study trips to Belgium, Italy, England, and worked with the Barbizon artists in France. Afterwards he became an instructor in the Eerste Nederlandse Vrije Studio, The Hague. In 1926 he exhibited a painting at the Jeu de Paume, Paris. In 1938 he moved to Amsterdam. From 1939 until 1953, he was the Director as well as an instructor at the National Academy of Fine Arts, Amsterdam. He proved to be a popular teacher, and his students included Jan Batermann, Joop Broek, Jacobus Johannes Brouwers, Jan Engelberts, Lydia Hoeffelman, Bob Hoope, and Kurt Löf, among many others. In 1959 he received second prize at the International Art Exhibition, Edinburgh. He was a member of Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam; the Pulchri Studio, The Hague; and one of the Gooische artists who painted in Laren. He also worked as a graphic artist executing linocuts and lithographs. His works can be found in the museums of Amsterdam, Assen, Budapest, Deurne, Enkhuizen, The Hague, Laren, Rotterdam, Trieste and Utrecht.[1]
The chief influences on his work were the paintings of Willem Adriaan van Konijnenburg, Johann Joseph Aarts, and the old masters, especially Pieter Brueghel the Elder[2]. As a result of his time among the Barbizon painters, a connection to Jean François Millet is also evident.[3] Van den Berg has been characterized as a naïve artist and was included in such shows as Meesters der Europese Naieven at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht in 1970. Such terminology seems somewhat inadequate when describing the particular magic Van den Berg created, as he always remained unaffected by contemporary trends, continually seeking his own way, perpetually defying definition.[4]
[1] Biographical information taken from Hans Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts, volume A-D, Veb. E. A. Seemann Verlag, Leipzig, 1953, p. 177; Joachim Busse, Internationales Handbuch Aller Maler und Bildhauer des 19. Jahrhunderts, Verlag Busse Kunst Dokumentation GMBH, Weisbaden, 1977, p. 94; K.G. Saur, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon Bio-Bibliographischen Index A-Z, München, 1999-2000, p. 318; and Dirck Brinkkemper, Peter Kersloot, & Kees Sier, “Willem Hendrik van den Berg” in Volendam Schildersdorp 1880 – 1940, Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle, 2006, p. 56.
[2] K.G. Saur, op. cit., p. 318
[3] Ellwood Hendrick “Netherlanders at the Arts,” in The Art World, A Monthly For the Public Devoted to the Higher Ideals, volume 3, The Kalon Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1917, p. 234.
[4] Dirk Brinkkemper, op. cit., p. 56.