Simon Moulijn (20 July 1866 – 2 November 1948) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and graphic artist. He was one of the eminent visual artists of his time and became especially well known for his lithographic works.

Biography

Simon Moulijn was born in Rotterdam as a son of the manufactor and merchant Simon Moulijn senior and his second wife Magdalena Maria Johanna Walter. Despite initial doubts of his parents Simon Moulijn started 1882 an education at the Rotterdam Academy of Arts (Rotterdamsche Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen, today “Willem de Koning Academy Rotterdam University of applied sciences”). From 1885 onward he continued his studies at the Rijksakademie voor beeldende kunsten (State Academy of fine arts). In this period he met other artists as

Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig (5 April 1866 – 12 October 1915) was a Dutch painter and Theosophist. He was one of the first artists who introduced luminism to the Netherlands. Hart was his mother's maiden name. He adopted it in 1884 when all of her ...

, Richard Roland Holst and

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 ...

. After the end of his formal education in the year 1887 a period of artistic search and wandering around followed. He lived and worked in various places in the province

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

, in Rotterdam, in The Hague, in

De Steeg De Steeg is a Dutch village within the municipality of Rheden. Due to its central location within the municipality, it houses the town hall. Middachten Castle is located near the village. Several De Steeg buildings once belonged to the Middachten ...

near Arnhem, where he shared a studio with the painter

Edzard Koning Edzard Koning (3 May 1869 – 21 February 1954) was a Dutch painter. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Koning's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale ''Onze Kunst van He ...

and in Renkum. He married 12 March 1902 the poet Hester Henriëtte Jacoba Haitsma-Mulier. The couple settled in Laren (North Holland). At that time many artists and fellow students from the Academy in Amsterdam already lived there. His house “d’Eglantier” was built after Moulijn's own design in 1903. Two sons were born in the years 1904 and 1908. In the year 1917 Moulijn was appointed as a teacher at the Rotterdamsche Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen (Rotterdam Academy) and the family moved to The Hague. After his retirement as a teacher (1932) Moulijn lived and worked from 1935 until 1944 in Wassenaar. In 1946 he and his wife moved in with their eldest son in The Hague. Moulijn died 2 November 1948. His wife died a month later (1 December 1948). Both are buried at the graveyard of the village church in Wassenaar.

Works

During the period of his artistic search Simon Moulijn followed the examples set by the modern French painters as well as

Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop

Vincent van Gogh. The

Symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

ism of the Belgian philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck also strongly influenced his work. Moulijn himself writes about this period in the year 1913: “his mysticism led me to distort nature in a barbaric way” Pieter Cornelis de Moor Simon Moulijn Derk Wiggers

Pieter Cornelis de Moor Simon Moulijn Derk Wiggers

Although in later work Symbolism often shows through, Moulijn developed around 1893-1894 an own artistic style and figurative language. His first big success was the one man exposition in the Hôtel de l’Art Nouveau of S. Bing in Paris during summer 1896. Always in search for new inspiration Moulijn travelled much. He worked amongst other places in the Dutch provinces

, North Brabant, Gelderland (Guelders), Zeeland and in the southern part of Limburg. His journeys also led him abroad and he worked in Germany (among other places in Monschau and Holzhausen 1905,

Todtnau Todtnau is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2009 its population was of 4,932. Geography It is situated in the Black Forest, on the river Wiese, 20 km southeast of Freiburg. The municipality counts ...

1922), in Switzerland ( Kandersteg 1926), In Italy (among other places

Tivoli Tivoli may refer to: * Tivoli, Lazio, a town in Lazio, Italy, known for historic sites; the inspiration for other places named Tivoli Buildings * Tivoli (Baltimore, Maryland), a mansion built about 1855 * Tivoli Building (Cheyenne, Wyoming), a ...

( Villa d’Este) and Frascati 1911, Florence 1938), in Luxemburg (Beaufort 1913), in France (among other places

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

1930, Versailles 1930 and 1934,

Neuilly Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well ...

1931, various places along the river Oise (among other at

Royaumont Abbey Royaumont Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey, located near Asnières-sur-Oise in Val-d'Oise, approximately 30 km north of Paris, France. History It was built between 1228 and 1235 with the support of Louis IX. Several members of the Frenc ...

) 1939 and in the Alpes Maritimes 1938). The result of these journeys was a large number of paintings, drawings and lithographs. Moulijn's fascination for nature and the various forms and atmospheres of landscape is one of the main themes of his work. Apart from his first paintings in academic style his independent development began with the simplifying nearly abstract sceneries influenced by symbolism and a certain mysticism. But over the years he finds more and more towards “a Dutch realism”. His development as an artist shows his love for nature but also his personal need to keep nature in a way under control. Therefore, many of his paintings and lithographs show woods from a certain distance or even behind a wall. He also loved parks with their controlled nature. His way of reproducing various landscapes also shows one of his main characteristics as “Painter of the romantic loneliness”. About the end of the 1920s Moulijn started again to paint and draw more regularly portraits. In the year 1893 Moulijn made his first lithographs. Over the years the occupation of Moulijn with drawing on stone grew more intensive and lithography was more and more in the centre of attention in his work. The main part in his stone drawings is played by peaceful rivers, woods, parks, but also fortresses and lively, urban landscapes of the harbour of his native town Rotterdam. In total the complete works comprise 189 lithographs. Moulijn's use of lithography also influenced his way of painting and the execution of works in these fully different techniques gave him a special position in the Dutch art scene of the first half of the twentieth century. Moulijn also created drafts for book covers, drawings, etchings, wood engravings and commercial art. He illustrated several books of fairytales by the author Marie Marx-Koning. Apart from a large number of articles in several journals and art catalogues Moulijn has written two books: “De lithografische Prentkunst” (“The lithographic picture art”, De Wereldbibliotheek, Amsterdam 1918) and “De eerste jaren van de lithographische prentkunst in Nederland” (“The first years of the lithographic picture art in the Netherlands”, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1927). He founded 1910 together with his friend the painter F. Hart Nibbrig in Laren a painting school."Biography in Simon Moulijn 1866-1948", p114 In 1911 he was co-founder of the “Vereeniging tot Bevordering der Grafische Kunst” (Association for the promotion of de graphic art) and became secretary of the association. As one of the important Dutch artists of his time he often participated in the organisation of exhibitions of Dutch art and especially graphic art in the Netherlands and abroad. Among others he was co-organisator of the graphic exhibition in Leipzig (Germany) in 1914 and an important exhibition of Dutch fine arts in Brighton 1920. It was in Brighton where he met the British lithographer John Copley and made friends with him. In 1934 Moulijn earned special merits for his part in the organisation of an Exhibition of Dutch fine arts in Budapest.

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works of Simon Moulijn are: * Drents museum in Assen *

Rijksprentenkabinet 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 Ste ...

(part of the Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam * Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in The Hague * Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam * Kröller-Müller-Museum near Otterlo * Centraal Museum in Utrecht *

Dordrechts Museum Dordrechts Museum is an art museum in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1842 and has a collection of artists of the last 400 years. Paintings The museum has works of the following artists: Gallery File:Portrait of Cornelis van ...

in Dordrecht * British Museum in London * Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris * Albertina in Vienna

Honors

* 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco: Bronze medal * 1923 Exhibition of Dutch artists in the field of fine arts in Amsterdam: Silver medal * 1928 Member of the Jury of the Olympic games in Amsterdam: Silver medal * 1934 Budapest: Silver plaque * 1934 Ungarian officer cross of merit * 1938 Knight grand cross in the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

External links

Website with a detailed description of Moulijn’s biography (also in English) and many pictures of his paintings and lithographs

References

Footnotes

Sources

* (in Dutch) (1989) Jan Jaap Heij: ''Simon Moulijn als schilder en tekenaar'' (Simon Moulijn as a painter an draughtsman) in "Simon Moulijn 1866-1948" * (in Dutch) (1989) Erik Ariëns Kappers: ''Simon Moulijn als graficus'' (Simon Moulijn as graphic artist) in "Simon Moulijn 1866-1948" * (in Dutch) (1989) Maarten Bunt: ''Simon Moulijn docent, organisator en publicist'' (Simon Moulijn as teacher, organizer and publicist) in "Simon Moulijn 1866-1948" * (in Dutch) Simon Moulijn 1866-1948, Edited by the Drents Museum, Assen (Netherlands) on the occasion of the exhibition of works of Simon Moulijn in 1989, Assen 1989, * (in Dutch) D. V. Nijland Simon Moulijn, Lithograaf en schilder, Monograph in the series “Beeldende kunstenaars”, Publisher Ad Donker, Rotterdam 1946 * De Valk Lexicon kunstenaars Laren-Blaricum, www.devalk.com (website only in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Moulijn, Simon 1866 births 1948 deaths 19th-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch painters Painters from Rotterdam Dutch draughtsmen Dutch landscape painters Dutch lithographers Dutch male painters 19th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century Dutch male artists