Jan Mankes artwork • prints & multiples • previously for sale Chair
Jan Mankes
Meppel 1889-1920 Eerbeek
1889-1920
Chair
woodcut on paper 18.4 x 12.6 cm, signed l.r. in full (in pencil) and with ini in the bloc and executed in 1914
Provenance: Utrechtsche Kunsthandel (voorheen: Caramelli & Tessaro), Utrecht; E. Theissing, Utrecht; Centraal Museum, Utrecht, in bruikleen van E. Theissing, inv.nr. 123.
Literature: Alb. Plasschaert, Just Havelaar, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1927, pag. 57; A. Mankes-Zernike, R.N. Roland Holst, 'Jan Mankes', Wassenaar 1928, pag. 60; H.F. Bruyel-Van der Palm e.a., 'Jan Mankes, schilderijen, tekeningen en grafiek', Utrecht 1989, pag. 105, 140, afb. 100 (van een ander exemplaar); Thom Mercuur, Fronique Oosterhof, 'Woudsterweg. De Friese jaren van Jan Mankes (1909-1915), Oranjewoud 2007, afb. pag. 121 (van een exemplaar in kleur); Alied Ottevanger e.a., 'Jan Mankes 1889-1920', Zwolle 2007, pag. 224, cat.nr. Gh 8 (met afb. van een ander exempaar in kleur); Jan de Lange, 'Jan Mankes. Een kunstenaarsleven in brieven', Den Haag/Zwolle 2013, pag. 361, 438, 465, 527, 647.
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
