Lot Essay
This recently discovered work by Toorop is one of the few symbolist works still in the artist's original frame. Almost all of these works, which demonstrate the influence of the Wagnerian idea of a "Gesammtkunstwerk", are now in public collections.
Jan Toorop was already a famous artist when he, in the beginning of the 1890's, turned to symbolism. In 1884 he had joined the influential art society "Les Vingt" in Brussels where he was one of only three foreign members, the other being Rodin and Signac.
Toorop's major symbolist works were executed between 1890 and 1894. He was influenced by various literary and musical sources such as Meaterlinck, Peledan and Rose + Croix but also by Odilon Redon, and Ferdinand Knopff.
Toorop's use of symbolist motives is, however, not easy to understand and not always consistent. The two women whose long hair is continued on to the frame of the present drawing are probably "sylphiden" (spirits of the air). Their presence can have a positive (f.e. in "Oh grave, where is thy Victory") or a negative meaning, depending on the central theme of a specific work. The lines flowing from the flower on the right side of the frame are probably 'geurlijnen' (scent lines).
Jan Toorop's symbolist work was quickly recognised abroad and influenced many artists such as Johan Thorn Prikker in Holland and Gustav Klimt in Austria.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being prepared by G.W.C. van Wezel
See colour illustration
Jan Toorop was already a famous artist when he, in the beginning of the 1890's, turned to symbolism. In 1884 he had joined the influential art society "Les Vingt" in Brussels where he was one of only three foreign members, the other being Rodin and Signac.
Toorop's major symbolist works were executed between 1890 and 1894. He was influenced by various literary and musical sources such as Meaterlinck, Peledan and Rose + Croix but also by Odilon Redon, and Ferdinand Knopff.
Toorop's use of symbolist motives is, however, not easy to understand and not always consistent. The two women whose long hair is continued on to the frame of the present drawing are probably "sylphiden" (spirits of the air). Their presence can have a positive (f.e. in "Oh grave, where is thy Victory") or a negative meaning, depending on the central theme of a specific work. The lines flowing from the flower on the right side of the frame are probably 'geurlijnen' (scent lines).
Jan Toorop's symbolist work was quickly recognised abroad and influenced many artists such as Johan Thorn Prikker in Holland and Gustav Klimt in Austria.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being prepared by G.W.C. van Wezel
See colour illustration