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Lot Essay
In 1916 Bart van der Leck met Piet Mondriaan who, with his strict ordering of horizontals and verticals, his abstraction and rhythmic system of lines and planes, made a great impression on him. This meeting led to an abrupt and fundamental change in Van der Leck's style, who became co-founder of De Stijl in 1917. Although the neo-plastic idea must have helped Bart van der Leck to execute his artistic ideas, Piet Mondriaan's and Theo Van Doesburg's radical and philosophically based method of abstraction did, in the end, not satisfy Van der Leck. By the end of 1918 he decided not to sign the De Stijl manifest. After 1921 Van der Leck no longer made totally abstract paintings. It is very likely that financial considerations played a role in this decision.
Although still faithful to the elementary colours red, blue, yellow, black and white, which he used since 1917, he gave the colours in his paintings in the 1940s and 50s a new intensity, which Oxenaar (see: Rudolf Oxenaar, Bart van der Leck 1876 - 1958, Otterlo 1976) typifies as "aggressive" and more severe in composition and organization, of which the present lot is a good example.
In 1918 Bart van der Leck met the architect P.J. Elling, the first owner of the present lot, during an exhibition of work by Van der Leck in Voor de Kunst in Utrecht. This acquaintance resulted in a lifelong friendship. A close collaboration between the architect and the artist started in 1936 as Elling asked Van der Leck to design colour schemes for the interior of Huis Libert in Hilversum, designed by him. In the following years Van der Leck made many other colour designs for houses built or rebuilt by Elling, such as for the apartment of Dr. C.H. van der Leeuw in the Carlton Building, Amsterdam, in 1949-1950, for the laboratory of the Royal Ketjen Sulphur Works Amsterdam in 1952, the house of Mr. And Mrs. Schöne - van der Leck, Blaricum and the house of Dr. C.H. van der Leeuw, Wassenaar both in 1953. (see: Rudolf Oxenaar, Bart van der Leck 1876 - 1958, Otterlo 1976). These projects gave Van der Leck an opportunity to produce truly monumental art for a large public.
Although still faithful to the elementary colours red, blue, yellow, black and white, which he used since 1917, he gave the colours in his paintings in the 1940s and 50s a new intensity, which Oxenaar (see: Rudolf Oxenaar, Bart van der Leck 1876 - 1958, Otterlo 1976) typifies as "aggressive" and more severe in composition and organization, of which the present lot is a good example.
In 1918 Bart van der Leck met the architect P.J. Elling, the first owner of the present lot, during an exhibition of work by Van der Leck in Voor de Kunst in Utrecht. This acquaintance resulted in a lifelong friendship. A close collaboration between the architect and the artist started in 1936 as Elling asked Van der Leck to design colour schemes for the interior of Huis Libert in Hilversum, designed by him. In the following years Van der Leck made many other colour designs for houses built or rebuilt by Elling, such as for the apartment of Dr. C.H. van der Leeuw in the Carlton Building, Amsterdam, in 1949-1950, for the laboratory of the Royal Ketjen Sulphur Works Amsterdam in 1952, the house of Mr. And Mrs. Schöne - van der Leck, Blaricum and the house of Dr. C.H. van der Leeuw, Wassenaar both in 1953. (see: Rudolf Oxenaar, Bart van der Leck 1876 - 1958, Otterlo 1976). These projects gave Van der Leck an opportunity to produce truly monumental art for a large public.