Theodore (Theo) Wilhelmus Nieuwenhuis (26 April 1866, Noord-Scharwoude - 5 December 1951,

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilver ...

) was a Dutch

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

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 ...

designer, woodcarver,

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

designer,

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

designer,

decorative art ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usua ...

ist and interior designer. He is known as one of the best Dutch artists to work in the style called Nieuwe Kunst (Art Nouveau), which he applied to many different media.

Education and career

Nieuwenhuis was educated at the State Normal School for Applied Art and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in

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, where he was a pupil of John Roelof de Kruyff. Nieuwenhuis traveled extensively in his early career. Based in Amsterdam from 1883 to 1888, he visited

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and

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, then moved to

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, where he remained until 1890. He was in

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in 1891,

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during 1893, Epe in 1895, before resettling in Amsterdam again from 1895 to 1933. After 1941 he relocated to

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and

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. Nieuwenhuis drew plants and animals in an ornate style, and is best known as a designer of furniture and complete interiors, but he also designed printing, book covers and calendars. His interiors include the Shipping House, Amsterdam, which also makes use of stucco and cement; and "Harmony" in

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. He also designed interiors for passenger ships and patterns for carpets. Nieuwenhuis collaborated with both G.W. Dijsselhof and C.A. Lion Cachet on graphic designs. The charters which they completed in 1892 for the Society for the Promotion of Medicine are considered as one of the first manifestations of Nieuwe Kunst. He also worked for Philips from 1916-1918. The book ''Naamloze Vennootschap Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken 1891-1916'' was compiled by Jan Feith for the Eindhoven firm, and Nieuwenhuis was responsible for the decoration of the band, the vignettes and decorative edges of the album. Nieuwenhuis worked from 1898 to 1924 for the firm of E.J. Wisselingh, an art gallery and studio for industrial art in Amsterdam and he worked for a time as a designer at the pottery Thistle. Nieuwenhuis was a member of Arti et Amicitiae in (Amsterdam) and was teacher of Roelf Gerbrands and Leo Visser.

Sources

*Scheen 1969-1970 *Witt Checklist 1978 *Scheen 1981, p. 372 *Eliëns/Groot/Leidelmeijer 1996, p. 233 *Ernst Braches, Bouwstoffen Nieuwe Kunst, p. 751-823 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nieuwenhuis, Theo 1866 births 1951 deaths Art Nouveau painters Art Nouveau designers Dutch painters Dutch male painters Dutch ceramists Dutch lithographers Dutch designers Dutch furniture designers People from Langedijk 20th-century lithographers