Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa (17 January 1861 – 12 April 1942) was part of the second generation 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 ...

painters. Akkeringa is primarily known for his paintings and watercolours of women and playing children at the beach, women mending nets and intimate tea-time conversations.

Youth

Akkeringa was born in Blinjoe in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. He was the second child of Johannes Evert Akkeringa (1829–1863), an engineer in the tin mines of the Billiton-Company at Bangka, and later at

Buitenzorg Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and Javanese ethnic origin. Following the death of his father in 1864 from

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

, Akkeringa moved with his brother and sister to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, where they grew up in the household of his aunt.

Academy

In the spring of 1878, at the age of seventeen, Akkeringa enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. He quickly befriended fellow student

Willem de Zwart Wilhelmus "Willem" Hendrikus Petrus Johannes de Zwart (16 May 1862 The Hague – 11 December 1931 The Hague) was a Dutch painter, engraver, and watercolorist with many connections to the Hague School and later associated with the Amsterdam Im ...

(1862–1931) and other artists studying at the academy, including

Floris Verster Floris Hendrik Verster (9 June 1861 – 21 January 1927) was a Dutch painter. Life Verster came from an artistic family. His father, Abraham Florentius Verster van Wulverhorst, was an administrator of the National Museum of Natural Histo ...

(1861–1927) and

Marius Bauer Marius Alexander Jacques Bauer (25 January 1867 – 18 July 1932) was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer, best known for his Oriental scenes. His style was largely Impressionistic, although it also derived to some extent from the Hague S ...

(1867–1932). It is likely that during this period Akkeringa met and became close to the artist

Isaac Israëls Isaac Lazarus Israëls (3 February 1865 – 7 October 1934) was a Dutch painter associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. Biography The son of Jozef Israëls, one of the most respected painters of the Hague School, and Aleida ...

(1865–1934). At the academy the courses Akkeringa took focussed on anatomical drawing, drawing from models, as well as studying the arts of perspective and composition. After class Akkeringa, like many of his fellow students, left the city to explore and practice the art of drawing nature, discovering that he was most inspired by the landscape around The Hague. In the spring of 1883 Akkeringa received his degree, though he continued to take classes at the academy until 1885. From August 1886 until the end of 1887 Akkeringa took a course at the Rotterdam Academy. In the same year he participated for the first time in the ‘Living Masters Exhibition’ at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

Art societies

Late in 1887, Akkeringa moved to The Hague. Several months later, he moved again to

Loosduinen Loosduinen () is a former village in the Netherlands that was a municipality unto itself until 1923, when it was annexed by The Hague and subsequently became a district of the city. Within the district there is also a neighbourhood (Dutch:wijk) c ...

to focus entirely on his painting. During this period, the so-called ‘Loosduinse painters colony’, or ‘The Hague Barbizon’, began. Artists involved in this movement besides Akkeringa included

(1862–1931), who was a great influence on Akkringas style, George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923),

Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop

Theo van Hoytema Theodorus van Hoytema, or Hoijtema (18 December 1863, The Hague - 28 August 1917, The Hague) was a Dutch lithographer, illustrator and graphic designer, known for his book covers and calendars; especially those depicting birds. Biography His fa ...

(1863–1917),

Hendrik Otto van Thol Hendrik may refer to: * Hendrik (given name) * Hans Hendrik, Greenlandic Arctic traveller and interpreter * Hendrik Island, an island in Greenland * Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, a municipality in the Netherlands * A character from ''Dragon Quest XI'' See ...

(1859–1902),

(1867–1932) and several others. The artists of the Hague School were attracted to Loosduinen and the surrounding dunes, because the area was viewed as one of the last remaining authentic natural landscapes in the region. In October 1889, Akkeringa became a member of The Hague art society,

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 ...

. Among others, Akkeringa and

Théophile de Brock Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...

established a board for

The Hague Art Circle The Haagse Kunstkring (English The Hague Art Circle) is an association in The Hague for artists and art lovers. Among the members are visual artists, architects, writers, recitation artists, photographers, musicians and designers. The association ...

. Unlike the Pulchri Studio, The Hague Art Circle included art forms other than painting. On 26 June 1892,

Hendrik Haverman Hendrik Johannes Haverman (23 October 1857, Amsterdam - 11 August 1928, The Hague) was a Dutch artist; known primarily for his portrait drawings. Biography He studied at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, and the art academie ...

proposed Akkeringa as a friend of the art society '

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 ...

'. On 25 February 1897 Akkeringa along with his friend Floris Arntzenius (1864–1925), was adopted as a member of the '

Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij The Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij (''Dutch drawing society'') was an international art society founded in 1876 in The Hague. The purpose of the society was to promote watercolor painting as an art in itself, which until then had been known only as ...

', of which he was a board member from 1912 to 1917. In February 1892, Akkeringa, Jan Toorop, Marius Bauer and Willem de Zwart were commissioned to illustrate a collection of

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s published by the Amsterdam publishing house

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

. The book, by Louse Ahn-De Jongh, was titled ''A Book of Imagination, Fairy Tales and Stories'' and was published in 1893. From November 1892 to October 1896 Akkeringa continued to work as an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

for Elsevier's ' Geïllustreerd Maandschrift' (the 'Illustrated Monthly'), to earn extra money.

Family life

On 15 September 1892 Akkeringa married his niece Willemina Suzanna (Mien) Reedijk (1866–1909), and the young couple moved to a house on the outskirts of The Hague. Shortly afterwards two sons were born, Leonard Johannes (Leo) (1893–1959) and Johannes Evert (Jan) (1894–1983). During their marriage the couple regularly moved around the growing city of The Hague and the nearby village of

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

. Akkeringa preferred to live in homes on the outskirts of the city; not only did the landscapes of where he lived inspire him, but often his sons and their friends became the subjects of his paintings. In April 1903 the family, including his mother-in-law, moved to the village of

Heeze Heeze is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heeze-Leende, about 9 km southeast of Eindhoven. The Heeze Castle is located east of the town. Further east and to the north lies the Strabrechtse ...

in the province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

. Their home was known as 'Villa Erica'. The landscape of Heeze is the subject of many of Akkeringa's paintings. In 1905 the family went to live in Scheveningen, where Akkeringa's wife Mien died on 12 December 1909. On 20 April 1917, when Akkeringa was sixty-five, he married the thirty-two-year-old Elsje Wilhelmine Enter (1895–1969). On 27 August 1921 his third son, Evert Hendrik Jan Akkeringa, was born. In 1932 Akkeringa visited his oldest son Leo, who lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

; it would be the only foreign trip Akkeringa would ever make. Akkeringa died at the age of eighty-one. He was buried on 15 April 1942 at Rusthof cemetery in Amersfoort. In May that year an exhibition was held by members of the Pulchri Studio to commemorate his life and work. On 23 March 1943 the contents of Akkeringa's studio were auctioned off by the Amsterdam auction house Frederik Muller & Cie.

Works and exhibitions

In 1903, Akkringa was offered a contract by the Amsterdam-based

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

E.J. van Wisselingh. His work was not only exhibited in

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 ...

, but also at the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

branch of the company. He participated in several international exhibitions in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(1902),

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(1908),

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(1908),

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

(1904, 1907 and 1909),

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(1910),

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(1910) and the Canadian city of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

(1913). From 1903 to 1914 Van Wisselingh organized a yearly exhibition at the Pulchri Studio where the work of Akkeringa was regularly shown with, in April 1904, a joint exhibition of the works of Akkeringa and fellow Dutch Indo

Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s at Meijendel, between The Hague and Wassenaar. The studio was financed by Van Wisselingh and served as a classroom in which Akkeringa taught his students. In 1914 Akkeringa participated in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, and the exposition ‘Tentoonstelling van werk van Nederlandsche, in Indië geboren schilders’ at the Dutch art-circle at

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

. In 1918, Akkringa passed his secondary vocational-course at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and he was appointed teacher for hand-drawing. In December 1921 Akkeringa had his first retrospective exhibition in the rooms of the Pulchri Studio. The exhibition was organized by the art dealer Van Wisselingh. In early 1924 Akkeringa's contract with Van Wisseling, which included a monthly allowance, ended. A jubilee exhibition was organized at Pulchri Studio in January 1932 on Akkeringa's seventy-first birthday. On 17 January 1932 an anniversary celebration was organized at Pulchri Studio, at which Akkeringa received a portfolio by his friends and admirers. In May 1942 the last retrospective exhibition of Akkeringa's work opened in commemoration of the painter. After this exhibition Akkeringa, and mostly his work, was largely forgotten by the public. In mid-2005, the painter and his work were brought to the attention of the public again by an exhibition, organized by auction house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

Amsterdam, called: 'J.E.H. Akkeringa; schilders van tuin en duin'. His work is regularly sold at auction today.

Prizes

* A first official token of recognition came on 28 February 1887, when Akkeringa won the Royal subsidy for the year 1887, by the commission of the Royal Subsidies of

. * In January 1890, Akkeringa won the Willink van Collen-competition with his watercolour ''Een Wandeling in het duin''. In February 1894, he won the prize for a second time. * In 1900 Akkeringa won a gold medal at the

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

in Paris. * In 1905 Akkeringa received a silver medal from Queen Mother Emmaeen, for his work at the exhibition Gemeentelijkse Tentoonstellingen van Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters in Arnhem (derde Vierjaarlijksche). * In 1909 Akkeringa again received a gold medal on the exhibition in Arnhem, and received a second gold medal in June on the exhibition X-Internationale Kunst Ausstellung in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. * In May 1910 Akkeringa won a bronze medal with a beach view at the Exposición Internacional del Centenario in

References

* Sarah de Clercq, Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa, schilder van het onbezorgde leven, Schiedam 2010.

External links

His second marriage

His death certificate

Wikipedia Commons

Johannes Evert Akkeringa artworks (paintings, watercolours, drawings), biography, pictures, images, information and signatures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akkeringa, Johannes Evert Hendrik 1861 births 1942 deaths Dutch people of Indonesian descent Realism (art movement) 19th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters People from Bangka Regency Hague School 20th-century Dutch painters Royal Academy of Art, The Hague alumni 19th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century Dutch male artists