W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp

House temple in Singaradja, 1904

1904

Four Balinese, 1910 Signed and dated bottom left Pencil and ink on paper, 15.6 x 23 cm In ebonized frame with white mount. Literature: W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, Zwerftochten op Bali, Amsterdam, 1910, p. 36 WILLEM OTTO WIJNAND NIEUWENKAMP (1874-1950) Nieuwenkamp was born on July 27th 1874 in Amsterdam. His father owned sailing ships sailing to Indonesia and hearing the stories of the returning captains evoked in the young Nieuwenkamp an obsession for distant lands and adventure. After a failed attempt by his father to have his son make a career in his business, Nieuwenkamp attended the Academy for Decorative Art in Amsterdam. However, he left within one year to go his own way. He was an autodidact and a great experimenter with new techniques, particularly in the art of etching. Nieuwenkamp was a very focused man with the discipline of a scientist tempered by the sensitivity of an artist, a lust for adventure, a natural appreciation for ethnic arts and an enormous ambition to tread new paths. In 1898 he visited Indonesia for the first time and on his second visit in 1903-1904 he went on to Bali and became the first foreign artist to love Bali and the Balinese with a passion. Having secured agreements with several museums in the Netherlands to obtain Balinese art...

Stone statue in the temple at Madura, India, 1914 Signed with initials and dated, bottom left Pencil on paper, 25.4 x 16.7 cm Literature: Ernst Braches en J.F. Heijbroek, W.O.J. ...

Four outrigger proa’s on the beach of Kusambe, Bali, 1937 Signed with initials, dated and described with location bottom left Pencil and ink on paper, 29.7 x 35 cm In ebonized frame with white mount WILLEM OTTO WIJNAND NIEUWENKAMP (1874-1950) Nieuwenkamp was born on July 27th 1874 in Amsterdam. His father owned sailing ships sailing to Indonesia and hearing the stories of the returning captains evoked in the young Nieuwenkamp an obsession for distant lands and adventure. After a failed attempt by his father to have his son make a career in his business, Nieuwenkamp attended the Academy for Decorative Art in Amsterdam. However, he left within one year to go his own way. He was an autodidact and a great experimenter with new techniques, particularly in the art of etching. Nieuwenkamp was a very focused man with the discipline of a scientist tempered by the sensitivity of an artist, a lust for adventure, a natural appreciation for ethnic arts and an enormous ambition to tread new paths. In 1898 he visited Indonesia for the first time and on his second visit in 1903-1904 he went on to Bali and became the first foreign artist to love Bali and the Balinese with a passion. Having secured agreements with several museums in the Netherlands to obtain Balinese art and objects for their collections, Nieuwenkamp immediately started to purchase and order a wide range of ethnographic art and objects from local artists and craftsmen. Through his drawings and books, he gave an excellent impression of Balinese art and culture at that time. Since 1854 Northern Bali was under Dutch...

Theo Meier (1908-1982) View of the Village of Iseh, painted from the house of Theo Signed and dated 48 Theo Meier lower left Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 50 cm In original frame carved by the artist. Note: Theo Meier arrived in Bali in 1936 with the intention of going on to Tahiti where he had been before. However Bali turned out to be the paradise he had been searching for in his dreams and he had no desire any more to move elsewhere. Bali at that time was still a very traditional place where society lived according to an acient religious system and in a luscious tropical setting the modern world was ignored. Here he met Walter Spies...

Houses in Matoer, Sumatra, 1925 Signed with initials and dated upper centre, W.O.J.N. 30-4-25 Pencil on paper, 34 x 28.8 cm Literature: - Ernst Braches and J.F. Heijbroek, W.O.J. N...

'Ingang van den tempel bij Blahbatu, Bali 1907’ Signed lower centre, titled at the top, and with artist’s stamp at the verso Pen, brush and ink on cardboard, H. 14.8 x W. 19.4 cm G...

Temple of Besakih, Karangasem, Bali circa 1907 Signed lower right Pencil and watercolour on paper, laid down on thin cardboard, 19.8 x 25.5 cm Literature: Ernst Braches and J.F. He...

Besakih Temple, Karagasem 1918 Signed with initials and dated lower left, inscribed with location lower right Charcoal on paper, 26.4 x 32 cm