Johannes Marius ten Kateartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanAmsterdam 1859-1896 Den Haag

Johannes ten Kate, born in 1859 in Amsterdam, moved to The Hague in 1874 at the age of 15. He lived and worked here until his death in 1896. Ten Kate came from an artistic family; his father was J.M.H. 'Mari' ten Kate and his cousin H.F.C. ten Kate, both romantic genre painters. Johannes probably received lessons from his father.

Ten Kate traveled abroad; he visited London and in 1881, during a study trip to Paris, he became acquainted with impressionism, the art movement that started in the French capital at the end of the 19th century. The Impressionists went outside to capture the effect of light on colour and shapes as best as possible. Ten Kate did that too, but he was never able to say goodbye to his romantic style op painting; he united both styles and painted genre paintings and landscapes in a romantic-impressionist way, including many beach scenes. On the Scheveningen beach he captured fishing life in all its facets; fish auctions, shell carts, fishermen's wives on the lookout, but also family outings on the beach when bathing life had arrived. Ten Kate was active in The Hague associations and a member of the artists' society Pulchri Studio and the literary society De Witte.