(1871 Leyde – La Haye 1956)
Still life with fruits and pots
Oil on canvas
56 x 65 cm
Formerly bore the artist’s monogram
Provenance : Willem Cornelis. Feltkamp’s collection (1898- 1974) ; Scherpel Gallery, Bussum, 1975 ; Fijnaut gallery, Amsterdam, 1979, label on the back of the stretcher ; private collection, Netherlands
Exhibition : Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae « Hollands Kleurenpalet rond de eeuwwisseling », 27 September – 12 October 1975, n°12 (Scherpel Gallery’s collection, Bussum)
Originally from Leiden, in the Netherlands, H. P. Bremmer was a completely self-taught artist who moved within the artistic circles of Leiden and later The Hague, seeking to meet the modern artists of his time. His earliest known works date from the 1890s and consist mostly of still lifes, rendered in a pointillist manner yet characterised by flat areas of colour. He also produced striking landscapes of his native region, such as Les Meules, 1894, and Landscape at Leiderdorp, circa 1895.
From 1893 onwards, Bremmer became increasingly interested in art theory and criticism, working notably as an art journalist and later as a teacher of drawing and the history of contemporary painting. Sharing his vision and understanding of modern art then became his central endeavour, and in 1906 Bremmer published Eene inleiding tot het zien van beeldende kunst (“An Introduction to the Perception of Visual Art”), in which he taught how to appreciate so-called ‘contemporary’ art through our emotional and spiritual experience. It was at this time that he met Hélène Kröller-Müller, who had requested private lessons in art history from the man, regarded as the most influential Dutch art critic, who was then nicknamed the ‘Pope of Art’.
This encounter proved pivotal both for the Kröller-Müller couple and for Bremmer. It was on his advice that Hélène discovered contemporary art, and in particular Van Gogh, whom Bremmer revered, and went on to assemble a remarkable and daring collection. Having become Hélène Kröller-Müller’s private advisor, Bremmer accompanied her not only to galleries and auction houses but also to artists’ studios. Together, they built a coherent collection combining Old Masters, Symbolists, Post-Impressionists, Cubists, and Pointillists, centred on Van Gogh (whose works still form the second largest collection of his in the world), Seurat, Signac, Redon, Gris, Toorop, and Mondrian. While advising on acquisitions, Bremmer also played a significant role for Dutch artists, encouraging them to explore new directions and helping them find patrons. From 1914 to 1938, he was also the editor of Beeldende Kunst, in which he commented on the modern art of his contemporaries.
Our Still Life with Fruit and Pots is entirely characteristic of Bremmer’s output between 1895 and 1905. The artist, resolutely pointillist but also highly interested in the luminist movement of the period, depicted simple, everyday objects, whose arrangement—restrained yet meticulously considered—the interplay of coloured shadows, and the consistently luminous and delicate palette all highlighted the young painter’s pointillist technique. Highly personal, his textured brushwork gave his works a distinctive quality, reminiscent of shagreen, as can be seen in our painting.
All his works, whether still lifes or landscapes, reflect a continuous pursuit of light and atmosphere rather than striking imagery. Their very delicate colour range, often in gradients of green and orange, recurs across his oeuvre, as seen here in Row of Trees along the River IJssel, 1901 (Christie’s Amsterdam, 2007), or in a Vase of Flowers that once belonged to the renowned collector Samuel Josefowitz.
The provenance indicated on the label of the painting in 1979, when it was exhibited by the Fijnaut Gallery in Amsterdam, is particularly noteworthy. Indeed, our painting once belonged to a close associate of Bremmer, Wim Feltkamp (1898–1974), the artist’s cousin, who, after completing his law studies in the 1920s, drew closer to Bremmer and continued his artistic teaching. A journalist who attended Feltkamp’s lecture “Evolution of Aesthetic Perception” described its essence, a perfect summary of what is called the ‘Bremmerian’ vision of art: “The privilege of true vision, unique to the artist, lies in the fact that one feels very strongly the effect of works of art, without knowing anything about them, for the enjoyment rests solely on the perception of the creator’s vivid emotion.”
In 2006, a solo exhibition was devoted to Bremmer at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, entitled The Art Tsar, H. P. Bremmer.