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Lot Essay
During a short period in the early 1920's Wobbe Alkema was a member of De Ploeg, a society of artists from Groningen. This group aimed at changing the narrow-minded and conservative art climate in the city.
In style and ideas the artists were widely divergent. Today the group is mainly remembered for the expressionists Jan Wiegers, Jan Altink and Johan Dijkstra. Some of De Ploeg artists had no affinity with this German oriented expressionism and developed a style based on abstraction. This so called Gronings Konstruktivisme comprised artists such as Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Jan van der Zee and Wobbe Alkema. Constructivism was an autonomous development in modern art in Groningen. They did not share a common theoretical background and worked in different styles.
Alkema's work of the 1920's is very rare. It consists mainly of drawings, lino art and only 24 oil paintings.
Alkema's earliest abstract work En Passant is still related to reality. An abstracted figure can be discerned in the image. His first completely abstract paintings are from 1923. After 1930 he did not paint until the end of World War II. In these works there is no reference to natural forms. They built up with overlapping circles, squares, triangles and lines. These geometric forms wholly dominate the canvas, and the colours are mainly dark.
The present lot is not only Alkema's oldest painting but it is also his first serious constructivist work. It can be dated around 1920-1921. In this period he made one other painting that has its painting roots in reality, called Park.
He developed towards abstraction through several preliminary drawings. For En Passant there exist three related sketches, now in the collection of the Groninger Museum. As van Os explained these drawings are the key to the title of the painting. "De titel En Passant veronderstelt een vluchtigheid die in flagrante tegenspraak is met de strakke structuur van het schilderij" (Bulletin). In an interview Alkema told van Os "dit zijn de enige schilderijen, die door een indruk van buitenaf zijn ontstaan" (Van Os, op cit, p.74)
He started with quick academic notes made from the world around him from where he reduced the composition in lines and right angles.
In his choice of geometric forms Alkema was very strict; his colouring was more free and intuitive. To Alkema, Mondriaan's restrictions in form and colour went far too far. Alkema had not much in common with the other Ploeg members who did not really understand his work. Far more important for his artistic development was his contact with the Belgian constructivist group around the magazine "Het Overzicht", such as Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck.
Alkema's constructivism is based on intuition and personal emotions and had no theoretical foundation. As Ad Petersen mentioned: "to Alkema every painting is a personal expression, a means to find inner harmony and a pureness that did not exist in the outside world." (Petersen, op.cit, p. 2)
From 1922 until 1925 Alkema shared a studio with Jan van der Zee and Bouwien and Johan Faber at the Noorderstationstraat (fig. 1). The present lot is situated, next to the proud artist, in the centre of the photograph.
In style and ideas the artists were widely divergent. Today the group is mainly remembered for the expressionists Jan Wiegers, Jan Altink and Johan Dijkstra. Some of De Ploeg artists had no affinity with this German oriented expressionism and developed a style based on abstraction. This so called Gronings Konstruktivisme comprised artists such as Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Jan van der Zee and Wobbe Alkema. Constructivism was an autonomous development in modern art in Groningen. They did not share a common theoretical background and worked in different styles.
Alkema's work of the 1920's is very rare. It consists mainly of drawings, lino art and only 24 oil paintings.
Alkema's earliest abstract work En Passant is still related to reality. An abstracted figure can be discerned in the image. His first completely abstract paintings are from 1923. After 1930 he did not paint until the end of World War II. In these works there is no reference to natural forms. They built up with overlapping circles, squares, triangles and lines. These geometric forms wholly dominate the canvas, and the colours are mainly dark.
The present lot is not only Alkema's oldest painting but it is also his first serious constructivist work. It can be dated around 1920-1921. In this period he made one other painting that has its painting roots in reality, called Park.
He developed towards abstraction through several preliminary drawings. For En Passant there exist three related sketches, now in the collection of the Groninger Museum. As van Os explained these drawings are the key to the title of the painting. "De titel En Passant veronderstelt een vluchtigheid die in flagrante tegenspraak is met de strakke structuur van het schilderij" (Bulletin). In an interview Alkema told van Os "dit zijn de enige schilderijen, die door een indruk van buitenaf zijn ontstaan" (Van Os, op cit, p.74)
He started with quick academic notes made from the world around him from where he reduced the composition in lines and right angles.
In his choice of geometric forms Alkema was very strict; his colouring was more free and intuitive. To Alkema, Mondriaan's restrictions in form and colour went far too far. Alkema had not much in common with the other Ploeg members who did not really understand his work. Far more important for his artistic development was his contact with the Belgian constructivist group around the magazine "Het Overzicht", such as Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck.
Alkema's constructivism is based on intuition and personal emotions and had no theoretical foundation. As Ad Petersen mentioned: "to Alkema every painting is a personal expression, a means to find inner harmony and a pureness that did not exist in the outside world." (Petersen, op.cit, p. 2)
From 1922 until 1925 Alkema shared a studio with Jan van der Zee and Bouwien and Johan Faber at the Noorderstationstraat (fig. 1). The present lot is situated, next to the proud artist, in the centre of the photograph.