Lizzy Ansingh (Dutch, 1875-1959)
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Lizzy Ansingh (Dutch, 1875-1959)

Het Gele Gevaar - Le Peril Jaune

Details
Lizzy Ansingh (Dutch, 1875-1959)
Het Gele Gevaar - Le Peril Jaune
signed and dated 'L.Ansingh./1906' (upper right), signed again and inscribed with title on a label on the stretcher
oil on canvas
112.5 x 129 cm.
Provenance
H.A.J. Baanders, 1931.
Literature
J.H. van Eikeren, De Amsterdamse Joffers, Bussum 1947, no. 57 (ill.).
Exhibited
Paris, Salon, year unknown.
Amsterdam, Larensche Kunsthandel, year unknown.
Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, Tentoonstelling van schilderijen teekeningen en beeldhouwwerken vervaardigd door Lizzy Ansingh G. Nifterik Coba Ritsema en Georgine Schwartze, 7-28 March 1931, no. 9. Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, Lizzy Ansingh in Arti in Amsterdam in 1950, 14 October-5 November 1950, no. 40.
Special notice
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Lot Essay

The present lot is amongst the earliest works by the artist in which dolls take centre stage. Various anecdotes exist about the reason why Lizzy Ansingh decided to depict dolls in her work rather than stick to more traditional subjects like landscapes and still lifes, but whatever the reason was, dolls were to become her trademark throughout her artistic career.

According to Johan van Eikeren, the following anecdote lies at the basis of the composition of the present lot: "Een leerlinge brengt haar den Chinees, dien zij in het centrum van een poppenstilleven plaatst en hieruit wordt haar 'Gele gevaar', een van haar eerste poppenschilderingen die zij echter tot de allerbeste rekent die zij tot dusver maakte' (De Amsterdamse Joffers, Bussum, 1947, p. 18).

In an anonymous review of the exhibition of Lizzy Ansingh's work in Arti in 1950, it is suggested that the subject of the present lot shows the artist's vision on the imaginary threats of the growing powers in the East in the early 20th century: "Een groep Europeesche poppen rondom een groote Japansche bébé.[..] Wij brengen in herinnering - hoewel voor de meesten ten overvloede - dat in de wereldstaatskunde met het Gele gevaar bedoeld wordt het gevaar, werkelijk of denkbeeldig, dat Europa bedreigt door de voortdurende machtsontwikkeling van China en Japan" (press cutting recorded at the R.K.D., The Hague). Although this is an interpretation made in a different period and may not have been the artist's original intention, it does agree with the fact Lizzy Ansingh liked to put a moralistic message in her doll paintings.

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