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Lot Essay
Alkema's work of the 1920s is relatively rare and consists of drawings, lino art and paintings. In these works there is no reference to natural forms. They are built up with overlapping circles, squares, triangles and lines. The geometric forms completely dominate the canvas and the colours are mainly dark. 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 were much too limiting. For Alkema the circle was his main focus and starting point in his compositions while for Piet Mondriaan made his works based on a horizontal and vertical perspective. Alkema was actually one of the very first painters to develop from figurative works to completely abstract work with no links to reality.
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 the 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.
Even more important for his artistic development was his contact with the Belgian constructivist group around the magazine "Het Overzicht", with artists like Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck. In 1924 and 1925 Alkema travelled to Belgium to visit Peeters. His latest work was published in several issues of "Het Overzicht". The similarities between his work and that of the Belgian artists are evident but, according to Alkema, Belgium Constructivism was also too much based on theoretical principals.
Alkema's Constructivism was 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." (see: Bool, Petersen, Het vroege werk van Wobbe Alkema, Amsterdam 1978, p.2)
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 the 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.
Even more important for his artistic development was his contact with the Belgian constructivist group around the magazine "Het Overzicht", with artists like Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck. In 1924 and 1925 Alkema travelled to Belgium to visit Peeters. His latest work was published in several issues of "Het Overzicht". The similarities between his work and that of the Belgian artists are evident but, according to Alkema, Belgium Constructivism was also too much based on theoretical principals.
Alkema's Constructivism was 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." (see: Bool, Petersen, Het vroege werk van Wobbe Alkema, Amsterdam 1978, p.2)