Hoytema drawing with watercolor

Code: 10074

THEODORUS (THEO) VAN HOYTEMA       The Hague 1863 - 1917 Aldaar

Irises.

Drawing with watercolor; c. 1905. Signed by the artist lower right. In fine condition; laid down on card, possibly by the artist himself.

Hoytema is one of a group of distinguished Dutch painters, draftsmen, and designers who gave Art Nouveau in the Netherlands one of its most individual characterizations. He trained as a scientific illustrator at the Zoological Museum in Leiden and this early study remained with him as a central aspect of his art. Like many other artists of the period Hoytema was very influenced by Japanese art.

Our Irises demonstrates not only Hoytema’s linear precision, for which he was famous, but also his use of naturalistic elements to suggest abstract forces. The long vertical character of our sheet turns the floral forms into a falling cascade at the same time that it suggests the natural upward movement of vegetal growth. This elegant compositional ambiguity is further evidence of Hoytema’s modernity. Here, as in other art of the late 19^th and very early 20^th centuries, are to be found the beginnings of abstraction, an element of composition that became an essential element of the art of the 20^th century.

Sight: 535 x 228 mm    21 1/16 x 8 15/16 inches