The former Kamerbeek Collection: Jongkind to Van der LeckMost private art collections come together gradually, but sometimes, rather quickly, the collection surpasses personal interest and becomes a general notion in the art world. Private collections can be transferred to public institutions such as museums, but can also change ownership due to various reasons. And sometimes they are offered to other collectors via an auction house, as is the case with the former Kamerbeek Collection which will be offered in these rooms on 12th of June. The course of existence of an art collection is not always predictable; however, the artistic value and the forcefulness of the individual artwork will stay strong and is not influenced by its ownership. Christie’s Amsterdam is honoured to be given the opportunity to bring a private collection to the attention of fellow art connoisseurs and art collectors. This is an extraordinary collection of Dutch paintings and drawings from the late 19th and early 20th century: the former Kamerbeek collection.In 2007 the Amersfoort museum Flehite showed the exhibition Jongkind tot Van der Leck, Kamerbeek Collection. The exhibition and joined publication formed the reflection of an intense eight years of collecting art by Cees and Jarmila Kamerbeek from Amersfoort. In 1999 Cees Kamerbeek had sold his estate and insurance company. With these means he was able to focus completely on his two main passions in life: wine making in the south of France and art collecting. Considering the latter, the collector did not start from scratch: thanks to an inheritance of a small collection of 19th century art from Jarmila’s forefathers. Her grandfather was the framer and mirror maker Jacob van Bommel (1868-1946), whose company was established in the Amsterdam Veerkade 25 in The Hague. His frames were frequently used by The Hague school painters. Van Bommel had numerous talents: he played the violin and was a credited landscape and flower still life painter (see lot 91). He also was an enthusiast art collector of works from young The Hague School painters, as Willem Carel Nakken (1835-1926), Floris Arntzenius (1964-1925), Hendrikus Matheus Horrix (1845-1923), and Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa (1861-1942). In those days it was not unusual for framers to form an art collection, as it was quite common for artists to pay-in-kind. In Jarmila’s contribution to the publication that was published for the exhibition in 2007 at Museum Flehite, she said: ‘’In hindsight my grandfather acted wisely: without major financial commitments a beautiful collection arose from, as we now see them, the small and great masters of the The Hague School’’. Like Jarmila, ex-entrepreneur Cees Kamerbeek has been a great art enthusiast from a young age. Even though he studied economics and built a large company in Amersfoort, his true passion laid within visual art and architecture. During his life as an entrepreneur his love for art surfaced mainly as he included grand, monumental (contemporary and figurative) paintings in his office building ‘De Argonaut’ in Amersfoort. Cees Kamerbeek held a company philosophy in which art is an enrichment of the daily work environment: employees, working in a high quality surrounding filled with quality visual art will be at ease. According to Kamerbeek they will be inspired by the art and their creativity will be stimulated; this will increased productivity and their accomplishments and results will improve. Alongside visual arts at work, he favoured art at home. Around 2000 he started to expand the collection of late 19th century paintings originating from his wife’s family. Slowly a plan and ambition evolved to build a collection of Dutch figurative paintings from the period 1850-1950. In Cees’ vision the year 1848 was a turning point politically, social economically as well as culturally. For this reason, this historical censure is a suitable starting point for a representative art collection. ‘’The revolutionary year 1848, was in Europe as well as in The Netherlands a turning point, marks the end of absolutism, the beginning of individual freedom and the end of traditional conventions.’’, quoted Kamerbeek (see: Onno Maurer, Gerdy Seegers, Cees Kamerbeek, Jarmila Kamerbeek, Marjan de Man, Jongkind tot Van der Leck: de passie van een collectioneur. Collectie Kamerbeek, Amersfoort, 2007).According to Kamerbeek the artist who initiated the turning point in Dutch art history was Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891), who auctioned as the ‘master’ of the great 19th century innovator and impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926). A powerful work by Jongkind would cement the collection. For that reason the acquisition of Le port de Dordrecht (1869) (lot 40) was made: a characteristic and tasteful work of the impressionistic light and loose touch by this master. The Kamerbeeks never loved abstract nor conceptual art. The end of their art journey was marked by an artist whose work could only just qualify as figurative, even though it was a small step to abstraction for him: Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) (lots 24-27).The renowned art debate that this painter held with fellow De Stijl-member Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944), is a symbol for the inner artistic struggle that many artists had in the first decade of the 20th century on how to present the visual reality with regard to the imaginative. Cees and Jarmila Kamerbeek gave out a statement when they bought certain pieces by Bart van der Leck, of which Mother and child (1952-1955) is the most monumental. The statement being that the strong stylized reproduction, painted in the colours of De Stijl, of a classic motive such as a mother with child, is a fitting finale of the inventory of a century of figurative art in the Netherlands. The Kamerbeek couple succeeded by buying targeted works by the most important representatives of various movements differing between pre-impressionism by Jongkind and pre-abstraction of Van der Leck, to create a kaleidoscopic review of a century of Dutch art history. Obviously in this synopsis some names are missing, whilst other artists stand out and surprise. The Hague School is represented by a beautiful painting of Jacob Maris, Slatuintjes bij Den Haag (lot 46), a work by Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831-1915), Sunset at Scheveningen (lot 77), and a work by Bernardus Johannes Blommers (1845-1914) The shell fisher (lot 41). High quality works have been collected, such as Damrak: On the Nieuwe Brug with the Damrak beyond, Amsterdam by George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) (lot 69), and the most prominent work from the Kamerbeek collection, Café dansant, Moulin de la Galette, Paris by Isaac Israels (1865-1934) (lot 16). Also the Rotterdam impressionism, the Bergense School, the Groninger Ploeg, the Larense School: all of these influential movements have been included in the collection.The former Kamerbeek Collection will be sold at Christie’s Amsterdam on the 12th of June. The love for art of this couple from Amersfoort has been shared with the museum public in 2007, documented in a book and therefore consolidated for Dutch art history. The works of art from this collection shall have new owners and each will tell their own and unique story in a new context.
Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925)
A view of the Spuistraat, The Hague
Details
Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925)
A view of the Spuistraat, The Hague
signed 'Fl Arntzenius' (lower right)
pencil, chalk, watercolour and gouache on paper
95 x 85 mm.
A view of the Spuistraat, The Hague
signed 'Fl Arntzenius' (lower right)
pencil, chalk, watercolour and gouache on paper
95 x 85 mm.
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by Mr. J.M. van Bommel, The Hague.
Mrs. A.D. van Hey-van Bommel, The Hague, thence by descent to the previous owners.
Mrs. A.D. van Hey-van Bommel, The Hague, thence by descent to the previous owners.
Literature
Onno Maurer, Gerdy Seegers, Cees Kamerbeek, Jarmila Kamerbeek, Marjan de Man, Jongkind tot Van der Leck: de pasie van een collectioneur. Collectie Kamerbeek, Amersfoort. 2007, pp. 80-81, no. 17.
Exhibited
Amersfoort, Museum Flehite, Jongkind tot van der Leck, de passie van een collectioneur, Collectie Kamerbeek, 21 January-9 April 2007, no. 17.
Brought to you by
Irena Okoelskaja