Fokko Tadama (16 May 1871 – 25 May 1937) was a Dutch painter in the style of the

Hague School The Hague School is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the Realism (visual arts), realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school genera ...

, known primarily for coastal scenes, who spent much of his career in the United States. He was also a teacher and focused primarily on Japanese immigrant students.

Biography

He was born in

Banda Aceh Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...

, Indonesia. His father, Reinier Tadama (1844–1879), was a colonial administrator in

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

and his mother was his father's mistress; a local woman. He was orphaned when his father died of tuberculosis while at a health spa in Germany. Having been taken to the Netherlands, he remained there and received his first artistic training from the landscape painter Sieger Jan Baukema (1852–1936). Later, he attended the

Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. It is a classical academy, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. The school supports ...

in Amsterdam. In 1895 he married Thamine Tadama-Groeneveld, who was also a painter. In 1897 they settled in

Egmond aan den Hoef Egmond aan den Hoef () is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about west of Alkmaar. Until 2001, Egmond aan den Hoef was part of the municipality of Egmond. The village was firs ...

and became part of the , led by George Hitchcock.Biography
@ the

Cascadia Art Museum The Cascadia Art Museum is an art museum in Edmonds, Washington, primarily featuring art from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The museum opened in 2015 and has a collection of over 200 works. Location The museum is located at ...

. They both specialized in seascapes. In 1898, they had a joint exhibition at the

Société des Artistes Français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...

in Paris. By now, the critics had come to consider Thamine as the better artist and Fokko worked mostly as her assistant. In 1900, he gave up painting and devoted his time to hunting and caring for his large kennel of dogs. In 1907 they relocated to

Katwijk aan Zee Katwijk aan Zee (literally, ''Katwijk-upon-Sea'') is a seaside resort located on the North Sea at the mouth of the Oude Rijn. It is situated in the municipality of Katwijk and the province of South Holland. History The Origin till the Gol ...

. The progress of their relationship after that is unclear. Some sources say that Thamine became mentally unsound and had to be institutionalized by 1910, but others indicate that she was exhibiting and winning awards as late as 1912. Whatever the truth may be, in 1910 he emigrated to the United States, crossed the country, settled in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and began painting again. In 1913, he held his first showing in one of the meeting rooms at the

Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is the public library system serving the city of Seattle, Washington. Efforts to start a Seattle library had commenced as early as 1868, with the system eventually being established by the city in 1890. The syste ...

. The following year, he started his own art school. Perhaps because his name could be mistaken for Japanese, he soon became a mentor and patron for many Japanese immigrant artists, including

Kenjiro Nomura Kenjiro Nomura may refer to: * Kenjiro Nomura (baseball) * Kenjiro Nomura (artist) Kenjiro Nomura (1896–1956) was a Japanese American painter. Immigrating to the United States from Japan as a boy, he became a well-known artist in the Pacific Nor ...

, Yasushi Tanaka and Shimizu Toshi, as well as the photographer

Soichi Sunami Soichi Sunami (角南壮一, given name translating as "magnificent first son," and family name translating as "south corner"; 1885–1971) was a modernist photographer, influenced by the pictorialist movement, and best known for his portraits ...

. He apparently had a very successful career, until the beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

virtually destroyed the local demand for art. To make ends meet, he found employment as a mural painter with the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

and took part in the Federal Art Projects. Broke, despondent and in declining health, he died by suicide in 1937 in Seattle.
Ancestry.com, Results for Taudama

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadama, Fokko 1871 births 1937 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Hague School Painters who committed suicide People from Banda Aceh 1937 suicides 19th-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Dutch male painters American male painters Artists from Seattle Painters from Washington (state) Suicides in Washington (state) 19th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century Dutch male artists Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies