Vrouw in duinen (Melitta)

Until 1926 portraits and landscapes were two strictly separate painting tasks for Wim Schuhmacher. In that year he first combined the two in Oude vrouw in Italiaans landschap (Jan van Geest, cat.no. 102, pp. 121 and 216), where a hilly landscape forms the background for a portrait of an old lady. After being almost emphatically absent in his earlier landscapes the human figure from then on plays a role in some of them. Through art history the combination of figures and nature can be found, from the early romantic work of Johann Tischbein to the late 19th century portraits by Henri Rousseau, all possible sources of inspiration to Schuhmacher. The initial scarcity of human figures in Schuhmacher's landscapes may be explained by the fear of losing some of the timelessness of his vast landscapes. If the figures did appear they were diminutive within nature. Their presence almost casual, like a branch or a stone. The present lot shows Melitta, the wife of the artist, in a contemplating pose, seemingly unaware of the dunes surrounding her. Unlike his other woman's portraits in nature, f.i. Portret van mevrouw D.(Van Geest, cat.no. 164), Portret van Adine Mees (cat.no. 153) and even Vrouw met rode mantel (cat.no. 130) from 1930, where the sitters sometimes seemed 'lost' in their landscape, the role of the sitter in the present lot is much more modest. Painted in the same subtle colour scheme as her surrounding, Melitta almost naturally seems to make part of it.