Albert Houthuesen

oil on canvas

The Reid Gallery, London, Albert Houthuesen, May-June, 1961.

Sir John Rothenstein, Albert Houthuesen, An Appreciation, 1969.

Original canvas. The canvas undulates very slightly on the stretcher. There is some frame abrasion and small flecks of paint loss at the extreme edges of the canvas. Traces of surface dirt and matter are visible. With the exception of this the work appears to be in good condition. Ultraviolet light reveals some small areas of florescence along the upper horizontal edge. The work is presented in a wooden frame. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work
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Albert Houthuesen was born in Amsterdam in October 1903. In 1911, he witnessed the manslaughter of his much loved artist-father at the hand of his demented mother. The family moved to London the following year where, aside the war years and prolonged stays in North Wales during the thirties, he was to remain all his life. He was a contemporary of Moore, Hepworth, Burra, Ceri Richards and Cecil Collins at the Royal College of Art in the twenties. His principal influences were Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Constable and Turner.

Houthuesen’s own extraordinary life and philosophy are directly reflected in his work in which symbolism plays a profound role. This painting belongs to his series of still-life/ seascapes. The pears also represent rocks; and their protective tissue paper the swirling sea and spray.  

'The sea has always fascinated and terrified me. If there is anything in the seascapes, then it is because of an attempt to overcome an overwhelming sense of despair. I see the hardship and suffering of human beings in the eternal wrestle of sea, rocks and land. And I paint the sea again and again eating the world away'.

This work is particularly rare because it depicts a moonlight still-life/seascape with the outlines of the halo-encircled boat carrying Christ on the Sea of Galilee.

'When you are a child and you read in the bible of miracles you wonder very much. Later all that changes and it becomes an amazingly imaginative idea of the world based on truth and written by great poets. Man, through this poetry, is trying to express about his life what is so terribly difficult to understand. He stands in mystery and through it he is trying all the time to understand.'

'Never in my life have I thought of being original. I have only looked at the sea and the land and the sky, I have looked at the marvellous men and women one sees. And I have gone to the theatre. It is such an astounding world to look at. Everything in nature is admirable, everywhere and all the time. And all I have wanted to do is to try and paint what I had seen, either in a dream or in reality.'

The artist’s above words are quoted from Richard Nathanson’s biography Walk To The Moon – The Story of Albert Houthuesen, 2008.

Houthuesen’s work is in major UK museum collections. For further information see John Rothenstein’s chapter on Houthuesen, Modern British Painters, Vol 111, 1974, Pages 70-85. To view this painting in the context of his oeuvre spanning sixty-two years and watch part of the 1976 BBC Houthuesen documentary visit www.houthuesen.com.

This painting will be included in the Catalogue Raisonné of Works by Albert Houthuesen, being prepared by Richard Nathanson.