Jan Sluijters

Kunsthandel M.L. de Boer, Amsterdam
Kunstveilingen Mak van Waay, 18 April 1962, lot 164
Dr. J.A. van Dongen,
on loan to the Singer Museum, Laren in 1972
Kunsthandel Loutron, Amsterdam in 1994
Collection De Cuser, Amsterdam

cfr: A. Hopmans, Jan Sluijters, Aquarellen en tekeningen, Zwolle 1991, pp. 124-125

Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in good condition. There is new paper attached to the edges of the work to strengthen the edges. The sheet is professionally restored along all edges. There was some small spots of paper loss at the extreme upper left and lower left corners which are also professionally restored. There are a few dark foxing spots in the background of the upper part of the work as can be seen in the catalogue illustration. There are some horizontal abrasions along the extreme lower edge not shown in the catalogue illustration due to framing.
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The female nude has always been the most dominant subject in Sluijters' work.

Already in 1893-1894, when he studied at the academy in 's-Hertogenbosch, Sluijters often used the nude in sketches.

During his stay in Rome in 1904-1905, financed by winning the Prix-de-Rome award at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Sluijters continued to make several sketches which were very sensual in character. This sensuality would become the most prominent feature of Sluijters' nudes, but is also felt in some of his paintings and watercolours with women dressed up, like in the Spanish dancers and in 'Femmes qui s'embrassent'.

This erotic aspect often caused negative press and refusals at exhibitions, and also the gossip that Sluijters would have intimate relationships with his models. But he stated: 'If I have painted them, I would not be able to have sex with my models, and if I have had sex with them, I would not be able to paint them.'

Instead of sexual affairs, Sluijters developed warm emotional relationships with his models. Especially with Greet van Cooten, who modelled quite regularly and whom he married in 1913.  In his early work Greet is depicted quite sensual, but when their first child was born, Sluijters painted her as the caring and loving mother. In his later work, Greet and the nudes in general became more distant and solemn, although still permeated with a passionate inner feeling.

From 1914 onwards, Sluijters used several models of which Tonia Stieltjes was one of his favourites. With her beautiful dark skin and expressive features, we see her in many of his paintings and watercolours, like in 'Portrait of Tonia Stieltjes' (1922) (see illustration) and in the present lot.

The many nuances of Tonia's skin were for Sluijters a beautiful element to combine with other dark colours like Persian tapestries and eastern patterns. In this lot it matches beautifully with the blue of the sofa and the neutral background. The whole atmosphere of this dark nude with strong outlines around her body clearly has connotations with the work of Sluijters' contemporary Kees van Dongen. Both painters were in Paris at the beginning of the 20^th century and although he was never outspoken about it, the work of Kees van Dongen must have been of great importance to Sluijters.

Sluijters went to Paris in 1906 and was highly impressed by the cultural climate. According to Sluijters, especially Toulouse Lautrec was of great influence to him and the bohemien nightlife in general, which resulted in swirling paintings like the Café de Nuit and Bal Tabarin. The handling of the electric light in these two paintings, dazzling and festive, is strongly reminiscent of the music halls Van Dongen painted in Paris just before Sluijters did.

Sluijters indeed acknowledged Van Dongen's outstanding talent and strong feeling for colour and defended him against critics. Sluijters felt congenial with this painter, whose modernism was not immediately appreciated by everyone.

According to van Dongen, Sluijters was impressed by his work which he has seen at The Paris Salon d'Automne in 1909, although the two had never met by then. The impact is indeed clearly felt in Sluijters' nudes after 1909, where aura like contours and the use of blue and green remind of the paintings Van Dongen exhibited. A critic even stated that in Sluijters' paintings 'the influence of the monster of Mont Martre [Kees van Dongen] is clearly visible in the meaningless contours and fierce-coloured elements'.

Thanks to exhibitions and publications, the fauvist and expressionist movements were now gaining influence throughout Europe, but Sluijters always succeeded in giving his own interpretation and creating his own distinctive style.  

For Sluijters the female nude always remained a touchstone of his pictorial capacity. He sees the nude as eternal, unalterable and considers the quest for beauty, so prominently present in the female body, as the essential task for an artist. He would use this subject throughout his career. Sluijters' passion for the sensuousness of the female body, for the human and the natural, is more than clearly felt in the present lot.