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Lot Essay
‘Van der Leck was buiten, op het land. En altijd trof hem dan de trekkende gang, het rytmische zware schrijden van de dieren voor den ploeg. En altijd hoorde hij zuigen van hoeven in klei en het weder opheffen en klossend verder gaan. En de boer stapt er achter, terughoudend en met vaste hand sturend de ploegende beesten over het land. Dit stappen en dit geluid van dit stappen is van der Leck gaan beelden. Of het avond was of morgen toen hij den ploeger zag is hij vergeten. Er zijn geen seizoenen. Er is, in zijne herinnering, het moeizame schrijden over het wijde, ruime land, onder den hoogen hemel’
In his beautifully ornate style, the young art critic A.M. Hammacher seems to be giving a very adequate description of the present lot, emphasizing on the underlying motive that the painter intended to express: the rhythm, the cadence of the toiling horse’s gait, while ploughing the heavy soil. However, his quote relates to a painting from 1919 with the same subject matter. It was not unusual for Van der Leck to resume an old subject, often several years later. But in this case, it shows that Van der Leck had been pondering on how to express ‘rhythm’ already years before this topic became an ongoing point of discussion amongst his companions within De Stijl (as from 1917).
The first time we come across a Van der Leck-painting entitled ‘Ploeger’ is on a provisional list of works compiled by his patron and promoter, H.P. Bremmer, mid 1915. The only specifications given, were the name and address of its owner ‘Mevr. Eikendal - Benoordenhoutscheweg Haag’. This Mrs H.A. Eikendal-van Heerdt must have bought it almost immediately from Bremmer: the painting was not for sale at Van der Leck’s first exhibition at Kunsthandel (Art Gallery) Walrecht in The Hague in the summer of 1913, which implies that it had already been sold on (or was not yet finished at that time).
In 1919 it was first shown to the public at Van der Leck’s exhibition at ‘Vereeniging ‘’Voor de Kunst”’ in Utrecht. An (anonymous) art critic notes in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant that Van der Leck has conceived ‘a painting, powerful in colour and drawing, of a plougher behind horses at sunset’, which is ‘less geometrical than other paintings from the same year’.
The 1919-version of a ‘Plougher’ (from Hammacher’s quote), exhibited at a second Van der Leck-show at “Voor de Kunst” in March and April of 1920 has gone amiss, unfortunately.
Our current ‘Ploegen’ was last spotted in 1927, at Van der Leck’s exhibition at the ‘Rotterdamsche Kunstkring’. By then, it was still in the possession of Mrs Eikendal, who wanted to have it insured for Dfl. 1,400 (according to documents in the archives of the RKk, in the Rotterdam Municipal Archives). At this occasion the owner’s address will have been noted on the stretcher in pencil, ‘Wassenaarscheweg’ (since 1925 the new address of Mrs Eikendal).
After that event, the painting seemed to have gone up in smoke. Earlier research into the descendants of Mrs Eikendal lead a.o. to vague references in the direction of the United Kingdom, but all those leads proved to be dead ends. The fact that the painting emerged almost a century after its ‘disappearance’ was something that could never have been expected or even hoped for.
We kindly thank Cees Hilhorst for the catalogue text and for his help in cataloguing the present lot.
In his beautifully ornate style, the young art critic A.M. Hammacher seems to be giving a very adequate description of the present lot, emphasizing on the underlying motive that the painter intended to express: the rhythm, the cadence of the toiling horse’s gait, while ploughing the heavy soil. However, his quote relates to a painting from 1919 with the same subject matter. It was not unusual for Van der Leck to resume an old subject, often several years later. But in this case, it shows that Van der Leck had been pondering on how to express ‘rhythm’ already years before this topic became an ongoing point of discussion amongst his companions within De Stijl (as from 1917).
The first time we come across a Van der Leck-painting entitled ‘Ploeger’ is on a provisional list of works compiled by his patron and promoter, H.P. Bremmer, mid 1915. The only specifications given, were the name and address of its owner ‘Mevr. Eikendal - Benoordenhoutscheweg Haag’. This Mrs H.A. Eikendal-van Heerdt must have bought it almost immediately from Bremmer: the painting was not for sale at Van der Leck’s first exhibition at Kunsthandel (Art Gallery) Walrecht in The Hague in the summer of 1913, which implies that it had already been sold on (or was not yet finished at that time).
In 1919 it was first shown to the public at Van der Leck’s exhibition at ‘Vereeniging ‘’Voor de Kunst”’ in Utrecht. An (anonymous) art critic notes in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant that Van der Leck has conceived ‘a painting, powerful in colour and drawing, of a plougher behind horses at sunset’, which is ‘less geometrical than other paintings from the same year’.
The 1919-version of a ‘Plougher’ (from Hammacher’s quote), exhibited at a second Van der Leck-show at “Voor de Kunst” in March and April of 1920 has gone amiss, unfortunately.
Our current ‘Ploegen’ was last spotted in 1927, at Van der Leck’s exhibition at the ‘Rotterdamsche Kunstkring’. By then, it was still in the possession of Mrs Eikendal, who wanted to have it insured for Dfl. 1,400 (according to documents in the archives of the RKk, in the Rotterdam Municipal Archives). At this occasion the owner’s address will have been noted on the stretcher in pencil, ‘Wassenaarscheweg’ (since 1925 the new address of Mrs Eikendal).
After that event, the painting seemed to have gone up in smoke. Earlier research into the descendants of Mrs Eikendal lead a.o. to vague references in the direction of the United Kingdom, but all those leads proved to be dead ends. The fact that the painting emerged almost a century after its ‘disappearance’ was something that could never have been expected or even hoped for.
We kindly thank Cees Hilhorst for the catalogue text and for his help in cataloguing the present lot.