Jan Mankes artwork • prints & multiples • previously for sale Four mice
Jan Mankes
Meppel 1889-1920 Eerbeek
1889-1920
Four mice
etching on paper 19.5 x 14.5 cm, signed l.r. (in pencil) and executed in 1916
Literature: Alb. Plasschaert, Just Havelaar, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1927, pag. 59 en afb. 32, z.p. (van een ander exemplaar); A. Mankes-Zernike, R.N. Roland Holst, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1928, pag. 62; J.R. de Groot, 'Jan Mankes 1889-1920', 1979, pag. 22 (van een ander exemplaar); I.M. de Groot, 'Jan Mankes. Prenten en tekeningen', Amsterdam 1982, pag. 27; H.F. Bruyel-Van der Palm e.a., 'Jan Mankes, schilderijen, tekeningen en grafiek', Utrecht 1989, pag. 105, pag. 141 en pag. 108, afb. 106 (van een ander exemplaar); Thom Mercuur, Fronique Oosterhof (red.), 'Woudsterweg. De Friese jaren van Jan Mankes (1909-1915), Oranjewoud 2007, afb. pag. 115 (van een ander exemplaar); Alied Ottevanger e.a., 'Jan Mankes 1889-1920', Zwolle 2007, pag. 229, cat.nr. Ge 22 (met afb., van een ander exemplaar).
Jan Mankes, who died of tuberculosis at a young age, was a solitary individual in Dutch art. In 1903 he began working as an apprentice at a Delft stained-glass atelier but in 1908 chose to be a full-time artist instead. He withdrew to his parental home in the Friesian countryside, where he created small, finely painted works of landscapes, people, animals and flowers. His work is characterised by an immense restraint and stillness. It has a dreamlike quality, is vaguely symbolic and, above all, delicate.
© Simonis & Buunk
