BERNARDUS JOHANNES BLOMMERS (The Hague 1845 – The Hague 1914)
Back to School
Signed in the lower right Blommers
oil on board
9 ¼ x 13 inches (23.5 X 33 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, from whom acquired by
Sophia & Alexander Hertz, San Francisco, circa 1920, and thus be descent to their grandchild.
In his own lifetime Bernardus Johannes Blommers was one of the most famous painters in Holland and regarded as a leader of the Hague School. His parents were Anna Maria van Balen and Pieter Blommers. His father owned a printing business and Bernardus originally trained to be a lithographer. While working in the shop he took evening classes in painting at the Haags Academie and lessons at the studio of Christoffel Bisschop. The first painting he exhibited was Scheveningen Interior with Net Menders in 1865 at the Tentoonstelling van Levende Meesters (Exhibition of Living Masters), Amsterdam, where it was accorded a position of honor alongside a large beach scene by Josef Israëls. This led to a lifelong friendship between the two artists, with Israëls greatly influencing Blommers’ career. Blommers emulated Israëls in his choice of subject-matter, painting fishermen and farmers’ interiors, as well as seascape and dune landscapes that featured these groups.[1]
In 1868 Blommers finished his studies and took a studio in The Hague with Willem Maris a friend from the Academy. Willem’s older brother Matthijs and Anton Mauve also often worked in the space. The same year Blommers won a gold medal for his Fishermen’s Children at The Hague Exhibition. In 1870 he visited Paris where he stayed with Jacob Maris but was forced to return home by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. In 1871 he married Anna van der Toorn, a fish-seller from Scheveningen, who worked as his model and continued to appear in many of his paintings. Anton Mauve and Hendrik Willem Mesdag acted as the witnesses at their wedding. The marriage proved to be particularly happy and Blommers became the proud father of a large family. In 1874, after the birth of his daughter Johanna, the depiction of motherly love became a constant theme in his work. In 1882 his continued success allowed him to build a house in The Hague which he called Johanna after his eldest daughter. Within the house he fashioned a studio that recreated the interior of a fisherman’s cottage in which models could be easily posed. His scenes were mainly drawn from Scheveningen (as well as occasional visits to Zandvoort) until the turn of the century when Scheveningen became too fashionable a resort for Blommers’ taste. He then turned to the small fishing village of Katwijk for the authenticity he sought. There he built a house with two studios which he named for his youngest daughter – Villa Thérèse, with every autumn spent in Heeze, North Brabant. In these spots Blommers found the subject matter closest to his heart; the life of the fishing communities in the dunes, on the beaches and at home. In the later part of his career, he became famous for his spontaneous renderings of children playing on the beach.[2]
Blommers exhibited his work at home and abroad, winning medals at exhibitions in Amsterdam, Brussels, Boston, Chicago, The Hague, Munich, Paris, Philadelphia, Rotterdam, and St. Louis.[3] His artwork proved particularly popular in England, Scotland, America and Canada. Blommers’ work was so sought after that not unlike certain of today’s contemporary artists he had the unusual experience of having his paintings sold before they were painted.[4] In 1904 Blommers, accompanied by his wife and daughter Johanna, visited the United States. In Philadelphia the artist was made an honorary member of the Art Club, and there Thomas Eakins painted his portrait which now hangs in the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. In Philadelphia he sold a painting for the then astronomical sum of $6,000,[5] but perhaps the most notable event was the invitation to the White House where the family was received by President Theodore Roosevelt.[6] In 1914 Blommers returned to the United States having been chosen by the Dutch government to paint a portrait of Andrew Carnegie in appreciation of his gift to the Nation of the Peace Palace (Vredespaleis), The Hague where the painting now hangs.[7]
At home in 1911 he was elected president of the Hollandsche Teeken-Maatschappij (Dutch Drawing Society). He was further responsible for leading a committee that succeeded in establishing a Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale.[8] From the Netherlands he received the decoration of the Lion d’Or of the first order, the decoration of the Order of Leopold from Belgium, and the Orders of Saint Michel and the Crown from Bavaria.[9] In Holland his paintings formed part of the collections of the museums in Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Haarlem, The Hague, Heino, Katwijk, Otterlo, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Elsewhere these museums include Boston, Glasgow, Munich, St. Louis, Williamstown, and Worcester.
Clothed in the traditional garb of the village a young mother and her two children approach a school yard. The young boy appears hesitant as perhaps this is his first day at school. Saturated in warm colors Blommers’ heavily laden brush serves to enrich this simple scene, and a fleeting moment in the family’s life is captured and immortalized.
Around 1920 this painting was purchased by Sophia and Alexander Hertz from San Francisco at the gallery of Jacques Goudstikker in Amsterdam. His firm J. Goudstikker was located in a seventeenth century canal house on the Herengracht and was one of the most important galleries of the era. Obviously, a beloved treasure this painting remained in the Hertz family for three
[1] Biographical information taken from Dr. Jos. De Gruyter, “B.J. Blommers” in De Haagse School, volume 1, Rotterdam, 1968-69, p. 110; John Sillevis, “Bernard Blommers” in The Hague School, Dutch Masters of the 19th Century, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London and traveling, 1983, pp. 167-168; and Anne Taback, “Bernardus Johannes Blommers” in The Hague School Book, Waanders, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, c. 2004, pp. 333, 335.
[2] Biographical information taken from John Sillevis, op. cit., p. 167; Tiny de Liefde-van Brakel, B.J. Blommers, 1845-1914, exhibition catalogue, Stichting Katwijks Museum, Katwijk aan Zee, May 29-September 25, 1993, pp. 67-68; and Anne Tabak, op. cit., pp. 335, 337.
[3] “Dutch Artist, Here to Paint Carnegie, Talks on Art”, The New York Times, April 14, 1912.
[4] Ronald de Leeuw, “Introduction” The Hague School Book, op. cit., pp. 9, 29; Anne Taback, op. cit., p. 338.
[5] Charles Dumas, “Art Dealers and Collectors” in The Hague School, Dutch Masters of the 19th Century, op. cit., p. 125.
[6] Anne Taback, op. cit., p. 338.
[7] New York Times, April 14, 1912, op. cit.
[8] Anne Taback, op. cit., p. 338.
[9] New York Times, April 14, 1912, op. cit.