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Johan van Hell artwork • painting • previously for sale Street singers

Johan van Hell

Street singers
oil on panel 60.9 x 50.6 cm, signed l.r. and dated 1943

This painting was previously for sale.

Provenance: coll. K. Wiggers (arts), Amsterdam, 1945.
Literature: tent.cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tentoonstelling 'Kunst in vrijheid', 1945, cat.nr. 278; Tineke Reijnders e.a., 'Johan van Hell 1889-1952', Warnsveld 2005, pag. 33, afb. 51 (in kleur), pag. 57, pag. 94, cat.nr. S 119 (met afb. in kleur).
Exhibited: Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tentoonstelling 'Kunst in vrijheid', 23 sept.-15 nov. 1945; Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 'Johan van Hell', 30 april-30 mei 1976.

The work of the Amsterdam painter Johan van Hell cannot be separated from his political convictions, especially his socialist leanings. He was involved with the SDAP (Social Democratic Workers’ Party) and the SKK (Socialist Artists’ Circle) and worked as an illustrator for left-wing newspapers and magazines. As a painter he was chiefly interested in depicting the lives of everyday people on the street. In order to make his work accessible to this group he used a simple figurative idiom without any depth to it, in which taut lines, forms and bright colours determine the composition. As well as painting, Van Hell made a living by producing book illustrations and giving drawing and music lessons


Johan van Hell | Three grazing horses, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 80.5 cm, signed l.c. and dated 1926

Johan van Hell

painting • for sale

Three grazing horses


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