Jan Altinkartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanGroningen 1885-1971
biography of Jan Altink
Portrait of Jan Altink
Jan Altink, together with Jan Wiegers, Johan Dijkstra and George Martens, was one of the founders of the Groningen art circle 'De Ploeg'. Altink and a few of his artistic friends thought that the relaxed art climate in Groningen should be exploited. This gave rise to the idea of calling the new art circle De Ploeg.
Altink was an exceptionally talented student from the Minerva Academy in Groningen. During his training he already received prizes and medals of honor. After obtaining the M.O.- Drawing Act, he made a living for a number of years by teaching at drawing and craft schools in Leek, Middelstum and Zuidbroek and as a decorative painter. In addition to his free work, Altink designed advertisements and logos for Groningen companies and illustrated poetry collections, children's books and educational publications. He remained closely involved with De Ploeg for a long time and was a member until the second half of the 1960s. Several times he held the position of secretary and once that of treasurer.
Altink, farmer's son from a farmer's family, has always been used to working outside. That makes him more than any other Team Member the 'landscape painter' of the art circle. During his academy time he was already taught by his teacher F.H. Sent Bach out to record what he saw there. Altink initially painted post-impressionist landscapes, cityscapes and portraits in shades of gray and green. His work was immediately appreciated and was very well reviewed in the Northern newspapers at the Pictura exhibition in 1918. His work changed around 1922. He was often found with Johan Dijkstra, Jan Wiegers or Ekke Kleima at Blauwborgje, a farm on the Reitdiep, a river between Groningen city and Zoutkamp. In the 1920s it was a meeting point of the team members. Farmer Schuitema often baked pancakes and painted outside. At that time, Altink's use of color changed and purple, flaming yellow and blue made their appearance. Until the 1960s, the Reitdiep and the surrounding Groningen farmland remained the painter's favorite motifs.
In 1924 there was a breakthrough in Altink's work. He starts using wax paint. Oil paint was diluted for this with beeswax and petrol. Following the example of the German expressionist Kirchner, it was mainly Altink, Jan Wiegers and Johan Dijkstra who used this paint mixture. It dried much faster than oil paint and provided a matte appearance and full color. The period between 1924 and 1927 is considered Altink's most important expressionist time and his production was enormous. In 1925, Altink himself said of his bright, pronounced use of color: 'Things have no color. Only the light has color. '
After 1927, the tone of Altink's work changed. His color palette is often limited to just three or four colors that he uses to suggest light and space in his landscapes. After moving to the south of the city of Groningen in 1933, the typical clay land disappears as a motif and he focuses more on the North Drenthe landscape and the Paterswoldse Meer. The new environment also has an effect on the painter's use of color, which was described in the Groninger Dagblad of October 6, 1938 as 'a warm-colored Impressionism, which is darker and less robust than his earlier work'. Under the influence of the depressing circumstances of the war years, Altink applied more brown and gray in those years, and his still lifes, on which he often worked at night, also look dark.
After the war, Altink and other members of De Ploeg were given more space to make foreign trips. Jan went to the South of France in 1946, later also to Switzerland, probably on the advice of Jan Wiegers. The new landscapes, the light and the colors presented a completely new challenge. Director of the Groninger museum Jos de Gruyter increased awareness of De Ploeg's work and organized exhibitions that were not only shown in Groningen, but also in the west and south of the country. After Altink's death in 1971, the Frans Hals Museum dedicated a major retrospective to one of the artists of the first hour of De Ploeg.
previously for salepaintings, watercolours and drawings by Jan Altink
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
A view of 'Het Rietdiep'
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
Sailing boats moored along the Paterswoldsemeer, 1943
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
Summer flowers
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
A farm in Essen, Groningen, 1945
Jan Altink
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Landscape with chickens and cows, Groningen, ca. 1927-1929
Jan Altink
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Mother and child in the grain fields, Groningen, ca. 1951
Jan Altink
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Landscape with a house
Jan Altink
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A village road near Dwingeloo, Drenthe, 1961
Jan Altink
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Ship in the Reitdiep
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
The Paterswolde lake; on the reverse: landscape, 1941-1948
Jan Altink
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Landscape in Essen, Groningen; on the reverse: Country road in Essen, ca. 1930
Jan Altink
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Self portrait, ca. 1925
Jan Altink
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The atelier of the painter Siep van den Berg on the Sterrebos in Groningen, 1951
Jan Altink
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A view of the Oosterhaven, Groningen
Jan Altink
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Farmyard in summer
Jan Altink
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Sunflowers
Jan Altink
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Sunny wood, ca. 1962
Jan Altink
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Landscape with chickens and cows, Groningen, ca. 1927-1929
Jan Altink
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Flax field; on the reverse: A horse in a field, ca. 1930
Jan Altink
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Portrait of a man with a pipe, ca. 1942
Jan Altink
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Along the Paterswoldse meer, Groningen, 1941
Jan Altink
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Landscape in the Weser Hills, ca. 1957
Jan Altink
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The Gridone massif, Switzerland, 1962
Jan Altink
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'Zonneflikkering', 1928
Jan Altink
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A forest, ca. 1960
Jan Altink
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Flowers in a copper kettle, 1940
Jan Altink
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The farm 'Huninga' near Pieterburen, 1943
Jan Altink
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Landscape in Groningen with blue wagon, ca. 1930
Jan Altink
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Roses in a glass vase, 1942
Jan Altink
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A still life with a fan and flowers
Jan Altink
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A kitchen garden with a shed
Jan Altink
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A Swiss mountain landscape, ca. 1930
Jan Altink
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A country road, Groningen, 1943
Jan Altink
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Ploughing the fields, ca. 1924-1928
Jan Altink
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Sunflowers, 1942
Jan Altink
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Blauwborgje, Groningen, 1942
Jan Altink
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Cows in the evening sun, 1941
Jan Altink
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Winter landscape with farms; verso: farmer on farmyard, 1935
Jan Altink
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Early springtime along the Reitdiep, 1927
Jan Altink
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Mountain landscape in the Haut Savoie
Jan Altink
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A farm along a ditch, 1940
Jan Altink
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A landscape with a horse and farm, 1945
Jan Altink
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Farm with haystack, 1940
Jan Altink
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Landscape of Groningen, 1948
Jan Altink
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A still life with anemones
Jan Altink
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A farm in a summer landscape, 1963
Jan Altink
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Hay-cocks in a landscape, 1942
Jan Altink
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The Reitdiep in spring, 1939
Jan Altink
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Still life with dahlias, 1918
Jan Altink
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Sunflowers
Jan Altink
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Harvesting farmer, 1942
Jan Altink
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Farmyard, 1937
Jan Altink
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A colourful bouquet in a vase, 1943
Jan Altink
painting • previously for sale
A landscape, Groningen, recto and verso, 1926
Jan Altink
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A farm in a summer landscape, 1946
Jan Altink
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A view of the Paterwolde lake
Jan Altink
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Old road between Garmerwolde and Ten Boer, 1933
Jan Altink
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A flower still life, 1943
Jan Altink
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A farmer in a landscape, 1924
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Arable land with farms
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Naked seen from the back
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Café near the bridge in Steentil, 1956
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Country road through pine forest and flowering heather
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A portrait of Mrs Georges Duhamel reciting a poem, 1924
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Forest with a pond, 1955
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Country road with yellow sky; on the reverse: Wooded path
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
The bridge at Steentil near Aduard
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Landscape in the Haute-Savoie, 1963
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Landscape in the Haute-Savoie, 1953
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A summer landscape with the church of Oostum
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Untitled
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Purple road, 1954
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Landscape, Drenthe, ca. 1930
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
The beach near Bergen aan Zee, 1968
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A country road with trees
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Farms in a landscape, 1932
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Forest path
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Road along a farm, Groningen, 1956
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Farmhouse behind pollard willows, 1939
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
The Verbindingskanaal in Groningen, 1962
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Horse on a farmyard, 1950
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Meisje op de fiets, 1926
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Swimming in the Paterswolde lake, ca. 1951
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A ploughing farmer (recto); Flower still life (verso), 1924
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Dutch river landscape with red windmill
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A red road, 1925-1930
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Country road, Groningen, 1951
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Mountain landscape
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
Mountain landscape, 1957
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • previously for sale
A view of Noordwolde, 1943
Jan Altink
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A still life with roses
Jan Altink
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Bloemstilleven van tulpen in een vaas
for salepaintings, watercolours and drawings by Jan Altink
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Field with hay shards ca 1928: on the reverse: Storm on the Paterswoldse lake ('45), ca. 1928
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
A view of the village Essen, Groningen, 1945
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Farmyard with cart
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
The farm 'Blauwborgje' in Groningen, 1928
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Still life with tobacco box, pipe and wine bottle
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Along the Reitdiep, 1929
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Cyclist on the Hereweg in Groningen, ca. 1927-1929
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Blauwborgje; verso: A landscape with a horse in a meadow, 1940
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
A moored sailing ship near farmhouses, 1929
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Reclining nude
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Moored ships on the Paterswolde Lake
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Harvest time, 1925
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Working the land, 1925
Jan Altink
painting • for sale
Farm with hay-stack, 1940
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • for sale
Farmyard in Essen, 1941
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • for sale
Horseman in Essen
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • for sale
Abandoned farm in France, 1953
Jan Altink
watercolour • drawing • for sale
Farms, 1965
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