Jacoba Johanna (Coba) Ritsema (26 June 1876,
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
– 13 December 1961,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
), was a portrait painter from the Netherlands.
Biography
Jacoba, or Coba, was born in 1876 as the daughter of the book printer
Coenraad Ritsema
Coenraad Ritsema, also Cornelius Conrad Ritsema (13 April 1846, Haarlem - 9 January 1929, Wageningen) was a Dutch entomologist.
Ritsema was a Curator at RMNH Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (National Museum of Natural History) in Leiden from ...
and his wife Jeanette (Jannetje) Moulijn in an artistic family with one sister and two brothers.
[Description by Mesdag van Calcar](_blank)
Coba Ritsemazaal (Dutch) In her family there were already a few known artists - her grandfather
Jacob Ritsema was an amateur painter, her father was a
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
and the painter and etcher
Simon Moulijn was a nephew of her mother.
[Biography of Coba and Jacob Ritsema by Mesdag van Calcar](_blank)
(Dutch)
Her brother was studying at the Academy of Düsseldorf since his 15th year, also the age when Coba also was allowed to experience herself in the arts. However, for a girl it was not realistic to go abroad at such young age, and she was taught drawing at the
Haarlemse School voor Kunstnijverheid from 1891 until 1893.
[Jacoba Johanna Ritsema]
in the RKD
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
(Dutch)[A. Lammers]
'Ritsema, Jacoba Johanna (1876-1961)'
in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland: 1880-2000. (Dutch) Her sister Catherine tried to become a pianist (and later became
violist
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
) and her brother Johan studied lithography like his father.
From 1893 until 1897 Coba studied at the
Rijksacademie 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 where she was taught in a special class for female artists.
She was in her education a pupil of
August Allebé
August Allebé (19 April 1838 – 10 January 1927) was an artist and teacher from the Northern Netherlands.
His early paintings were in a romanticism, romantic style, but in his later work he was an exponent of realism (arts), realism and impress ...
,
George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner (12 September 1857 – 5 June 1923) was a Dutch painter and photographer. An important figure in Amsterdam Impressionism, he is noted especially for his paintings of street scenes and harbours in a realistic style. He pa ...
,
Carel Lodewijk Dake,
Fredrik Theodorus Grabijn,
Jacob Ritsema (her brother),
Thérèse Schwartze
Thérèse Schwartze (20 December 185123 December 1918) was a Dutch people, Dutch portrait Painting, painter.
Life
Thérèse Schwartze was born on 20 December 1851 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She was the daughter of the painter Johan Georg ...
, and
Nicolaas van der Waay
Nicolaas van der Waay (1855–1936) was a Dutch decorative artist, watercolorist
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "wat ...
.
After moving back to Haarlem for a short period, she moved in 1899 to a house at
Jan Luykenstraat 23 in Amsterdam, while she had her studio at the fourth floor of
Singel
The Singel is one of the canals of Amsterdam. The Singel encircled Amsterdam in the Middle Ages, serving as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ (Amsterdam), IJ bay, near the ...
512. She focused herself on the still life style, and was rejected by several famous artists she had in mind as tutor - they thought they insecure Ritsema didn't need their guidance.
She was a member of the
Lucas Society and
Arti et Amicitiae
Arti et Amicitiae (lat .: For Art and Friendship) is a Dutch artist's society founded in 1839, and located on the Rokin in Amsterdam. The Society (also called Arti for short) has played a key role in the Netherlands art scene and in particular i ...
(where she was one of the first female voting members),
societies around her example
Thérèse Schwartze
Thérèse Schwartze (20 December 185123 December 1918) was a Dutch people, Dutch portrait Painting, painter.
Life
Thérèse Schwartze was born on 20 December 1851 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She was the daughter of the painter Johan Georg ...
. Recognition would however follow: in 1910 she won the bronze medal at the ''Exposition Universelle et Internationale'' in Brussels, in 1912 and in 1923 she won a silver medal from the city of Amsterdam, and in 1918 she won a Royal medal given to her by Queen Wilhelmina.
[ In 1912 the critic Albert Plasschaert mentioned the circle of friends of which Ritsema was a part to be the Amsterdamsche Joffers (Amsterdam Young ladies) - a group of young rich female artists who worked together a lot and had a joint vision on art.] She became a teacher of the students Grada Jacoba Wilhelmina Boks, Lize Duyvis, , Tine Honig, Coba Surie, Hillegonga Henriëtte Tellekamp, Victoire Wirix, and Gonda Wulfse.[ She was not considered to be an explicit ]feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, but at the same time an example of an independent woman.
Ritsema's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale ''Onze Kunst van Heden
Onze Kunst van Heden (Contemporary Artists/Our Art of Today) was an exhibition held in the winter of 1939 through 1940 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Due to the threat of invasion in the years leading up to World War II, the Netherlands' go ...
'' (Our Art of Today) at the Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
in Amsterdam.
While focusing on still lifes and portraits, Ritsema's works were described in 1947 by critic Johan van Eikeren as if they could have been produced by a man - something that was considered to be a compliment in those years. He work was usually well sold, although she was not such a master that she could afford to refuse to make compromises. In her portraits there is a clear difference between those of her relatives and direct connections, which are painted rather realistic, and those of models - which are usually more impressionist.
Coba was close with her brother Jacob, and when he suddenly died in 1943, she took that hard - Jacob was also a painter after all, and she consulted him a lot on her work. In 1957 she won the Rembrandt prize - a prize awarded by the city of Amsterdam once every five years.[ At old age she remained active although her studio wasn't easy to reach for a woman at age like herself, being on the fourth floor - she had chairs placed on every floor the way up, to be able to rest on each floor while she climbed.] In her final years she lived in Pro Sinecure at the Amsterdam Vondelstraat, where she died from her weak heart in 1961.
She was a member of the Pulchri Studio
Pulchri Studio (Latin:"For the study of beauty") is a Dutch art society, art institution and art studio based in The Hague ('s-Gravenhage), Netherlands.
This institute began in 1847 at the home of painter Lambertus Hardenberg. Since 1893 the c ...
in the Hague, as well as being a member of the .[ Works of Ritsema are on display in the ]Teylers Museum
Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...
and Mesdag van Calcar, but she also had a solo exposition in the Frans Hals Museum
The Frans Hals Museum is a museum located in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
The museum was established in 1862. In 1950, the museum was split in two locations when the collection of modern art was moved to the '' Museum De Hallen'' (since 2018 called ...
.
References
Jacoba Johanna Ritsema
on Artnet
Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsema, Jacoba Johanna
1876 births
1961 deaths
Artists from Haarlem
Dutch women painters
Dutch portrait painters
20th-century Dutch painters
20th-century women artists
20th-century Dutch women