Jan Altink - Flower still life

Beautiful oil painting on board in passe-pertout behind glass
Provenance: private collection, auction Vendu Dickhout Maastricht 2015

Jan Altink (Groningen, 19 October 1885 – ibid., 6 December 1971) was one of the most versatile painters of Dutch expressionism.

Biography
Altink came from a cattle-farming family and thus developed a preference for rural life. Nevertheless, he also worked in Cologne and Hamburg, on the Italian Riviera, and in Switzerland. When he turned 15, he enrolled at the Minerva Academy in Groningen, where he continued his studies until 1907. Among his earliest mentors were F.H. Bach and Dirk de Vries Lam. Bach encouraged Altink to paint outdoors in the "Groningen countryside." However, several of Altink's early drawings from 1922-1923 show that he also found inspiration in Vincent van Gogh. In 1915, he and Berend Barlinckhoff founded the advertising agency "Barlinckhoff en Altink Decorateurs en Teekenaars" (Barlinckhoff and Altink Decorators and Artists) at Visserstraat 14 in Groningen. He created advertising work for the Vroom & Dreesman department stores in Zwolle and Meppel, which was printed by fellow Ploeg member Hendrik Werkman.

In May 1918, he co-founded the renowned Groningen artists' group De Ploeg. The name was coined by Jan Altink. He wanted to "exploit" Groningen art and envisioned turning the earth. This required a plow, hence the name. The articles of association did not reflect this ambition. A very pragmatic goal was defined: "to bring Groningen artists closer together and to promote artistic life in every way." De Ploeg had no artistic manifesto. In 1921, he became its secretary and served on several juries for the group's exhibitions.

Influenced by Jan Wiegers, five years younger than him, Altink abandoned Groningen's Provincialism in 1924 and adopted the more intense color palette of Expressionism, yet maintained a subdued emotional connection to the Groningen landscape. From 1934 onward, he himself became a teacher at the Groningen Academy. He also designed bookplates and, in any case, a book cover for publisher Bosch en Keunig in 1937 (Sparks of the Past). In 1955, for his impressive artistic achievement, he received the Cultural Prize of the Province of Groningen. Among his students were Derk Meedema, Everhardus Joseph Scheffers, Klaas Jacob Woltil, Eddy Wieringa, Remko Watjer, Arya Plaisier, Marten Klompien, Wietse Hoving, Siep van den Berg, and Ruurd Elzer.

Jan Altink's great predilection for working outdoors is characteristic of him. This makes him, more than any other member of De Ploe, the "landscape painter par excellence of the art circle." His sometimes spontaneous, sharply observed, and accurately rendered wax and oil portraits demonstrate that he also fully mastered this subject, sometimes surpassing himself in it. He was a precise draftsman who captured no more than was necessary. As a graphic artist, he left behind a significant oeuvre, in which etchings and lithographs occupy a prominent place.