Lot Essay
In 1916 Van der Leck moved to Laren (N-H) where he frequently met Piet Mondriaan. In this period both artists clearly influenced each other and together with Van Doesburg they were one of the co-founders of De Stijl movement Mondriaan later recalled "En ce temps-ci je recontrai des artist d'un esprit à peu pres le méme. D'abord Van der Leck, qui, bien qu'encore figuratif, peignit en plans unis et en couleurs pures. Ma technique plus au moins cubiste, encore donc plus au moins picturale, subit l'influence de sa technique exacte". (De Stijl, dernier numero, 1932, p. 48).
Mondriaans influence on Van der Leck is clear in the drastic abstraction of the subject matter, a breaking up of the form in horizontal and vertical linearity and in the way in which he titles his works. The following years, until 1918, imitating Mondriaan, he referred to all his work as compositie.
In 1918 Bart van der Leck made 9 pictures which seem at first sight totally abstract: five of them are numbered. The present lot is the first one out of this series. Although we do not know the nature of the subject matters from which Van der Leck gathered inspiration for this picture, it seems likely that for this highly abstract painting the subject matter was deduced from reality. For the paintings Compositie no. 2, Compositie no. 3 and Compositie no. 5 Cees Hilhorst has proved that earlier studies with subject matter such as "woman and girl in front of a house", was the starting point for the compositie paintings (See C. Hilhorst, op.cit, p.153-185). By endless reducing of the image he arrived at an abstracted version composed of small unconnected, rectangular fields of primary colour against a white background. In the collection of The Rothschild Company, Baltimore is a watercolour which can be regarded as a study for Compositie no. 1 1918 with slightly different colourfields.
Although the neo-plastic idea must have helped Van der Leck to create his artistic ideas. Mondriaan's and Van Doesburg's radical and more philosophically based method of abstraction did not satisfy Van der Leck in the end. At the end of 1918 after a last series of Composities he decided not to sign the De Stijl manifest and he remained faithful to reality.
It is unknown when this picture and several other abstract paintings by Van der Leck left the collection of Mrs Hélène Kröller-Müller. For years she helped Van der Leck financially and in return he delivered paintings for her collection. In general she disapproved of the far reaching abstraction of his works of 1916-1918. She was not able to understand the work and in a letter of 1916 she asked Van der Leck to send her the studies for the paintings to enable her to understand these works better. In the end she decided to end her working relation with Van der Leck in May 1918. In 1928 when the vast majority of the collection was incorporated into a foundation, this painting remained her personal property. As they didn't fit in with the basic idea underlying the foundation. It is very likely that she distributed these paintings among her family members (see C. Hilhorst, 'Kwartet! Twee teruggevonden Van der Lecks', Jong Holland, 3 (1987) 4)
See colour illustration
Mondriaans influence on Van der Leck is clear in the drastic abstraction of the subject matter, a breaking up of the form in horizontal and vertical linearity and in the way in which he titles his works. The following years, until 1918, imitating Mondriaan, he referred to all his work as compositie.
In 1918 Bart van der Leck made 9 pictures which seem at first sight totally abstract: five of them are numbered. The present lot is the first one out of this series. Although we do not know the nature of the subject matters from which Van der Leck gathered inspiration for this picture, it seems likely that for this highly abstract painting the subject matter was deduced from reality. For the paintings Compositie no. 2, Compositie no. 3 and Compositie no. 5 Cees Hilhorst has proved that earlier studies with subject matter such as "woman and girl in front of a house", was the starting point for the compositie paintings (See C. Hilhorst, op.cit, p.153-185). By endless reducing of the image he arrived at an abstracted version composed of small unconnected, rectangular fields of primary colour against a white background. In the collection of The Rothschild Company, Baltimore is a watercolour which can be regarded as a study for Compositie no. 1 1918 with slightly different colourfields.
Although the neo-plastic idea must have helped Van der Leck to create his artistic ideas. Mondriaan's and Van Doesburg's radical and more philosophically based method of abstraction did not satisfy Van der Leck in the end. At the end of 1918 after a last series of Composities he decided not to sign the De Stijl manifest and he remained faithful to reality.
It is unknown when this picture and several other abstract paintings by Van der Leck left the collection of Mrs Hélène Kröller-Müller. For years she helped Van der Leck financially and in return he delivered paintings for her collection. In general she disapproved of the far reaching abstraction of his works of 1916-1918. She was not able to understand the work and in a letter of 1916 she asked Van der Leck to send her the studies for the paintings to enable her to understand these works better. In the end she decided to end her working relation with Van der Leck in May 1918. In 1928 when the vast majority of the collection was incorporated into a foundation, this painting remained her personal property. As they didn't fit in with the basic idea underlying the foundation. It is very likely that she distributed these paintings among her family members (see C. Hilhorst, 'Kwartet! Twee teruggevonden Van der Lecks', Jong Holland, 3 (1987) 4)
See colour illustration