Jacoba van Heemskerck Quotes

I work a lot and I think a lot. I really want to try to paint on glass. .Please will you ask him [mr. architect Taut ] if there are any transparent colors, which one can use to paint on the glass directly.. .I want to dispose of a new technique in which the artist can paint on the glass directly instead of canvas. When one wants to reach colors spiritually-bright, then a time will come that oil-paint and canvas are no longer suitable.. .So, if you have time, please ask Mr. Taut if he understands my view and maybe he knows the ways how I can follow my direction. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

It is a terrible, but also tremendous time. Personally I find it moreover so important for my art to live now.. .These times force you to think over a lot and work very hard, in Nature now a strong creative force is working. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

Again I only gave numbers [of her art-works, she sent for the next Sturm-exhibition]. I stick to my idea of not giving titles. ..Titles are really disgusting romantic, and now in a while people will have hundreds of Spring's, Summers, Trees [paintings], to Liebknecht, Eberts, etc.. Above everything color and line have their own specific language, which doesn't want to be captured in a title. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

version in Dutch / citaat van Jacoba van Heemskerck, in het Nederlands vertaald: Voor jou een grote bevrediging dat je zo veel voor de moderne kunst gedaan hebt. Als Der Sturm niet tien jaren zo gewerkt had [met o.a. maandelijkse exposities!] dan had Duitsland niet aan de spits van de beweging gestaan.

I got the idea to paint people, in the way I see them. From one face I take to my own idea some very characteristic features of it and then I make of the whole a picture in colors and lines, in the way how I meet that person. The whole thing becomes not at all a portrait in the usual sense.. .I have tried to make types, but will built in more and more personal qualities and all that kind of things.. .Everything will be figured out fully abstract of course, it is just a personal feeling and no system at all. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

..I am so often showing my work in Germany that I belong to the German moderns.. .I openly want to confess you that I don't value the new painting in my home country very much. That is why I don't have a lot of acquaintances among the painters. Everything here is so little progressive. People's life is to easy here. It is very difficult to keep wide-awake since all are sleeping here. I feel much more at home in Germany. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

Here [in the Netherlands] there is absolutely nothing, nowhere and permanently committees to deliver the visual artists some money, since all are hungry. It is such a difficult time for Holland. I had flu, I was very sick and I am still too weak to work. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

(original version, written by Jacoba in German:) Heute abend bin ich durch den Anthroposophischen Verein eingeladen (worden) am 13. März einen Vortrag über moderne Kunst zu halten. Man fängt hier an zu erwachen.. .Bitte, sage mir einiges, was ich speziell betonen soll, was Du am wichtigsten findest. Ich werde dann auch aus 'Das Geistige in der Kunst' von Kandinsky.. ..etwas vorlesen. Aber wir haben doch in Ganzen noch andere Ansichten. Ich stimme nicht immer met Kandinsky überein, und oft mehr mit Deinen Ansichten. Also bitte schreibe ein bisschen viel.. .Du weisst, ich finde es immer einfacher, meine Prinzipien zu malen.

version in Dutch / citaat van Jacoba van Heemskerck, in het Nederlands vertaald: Hier [in Nederland] is absoluut niets, nergens geld en voortdurend comités om de beeldende kunstenaars geld te bezorgen, aangezien allen honger lijden. Voor Holland zijn het zo moeilijke tijden. Ik had griep, was erg ziek en ben nog te zwak om te werken.

For you it must be a great satisfaction that you have done so much for modern art. If Der Sturm had not worked like this for ten years then Germany would not have been at the forefront of the movement. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

(original version, written by Jacoba in German:)Ich war in Rotterdam, aber da war eine schreckliche Ausstellung. Le Fauconnier ist nichts mehr. Er hat jetzt eine schmutzige Farbe uns ist ein richtiger Akademiker. Mondrian ist ganz erstarrt, gar kein Poesie mehr. Es ist doch schrecklich, dass die Leute nicht weiter kommen mit grossen Idealen. Alma ist für meinen Geschmack viel zu viel Naturalist. Ein grösser Unterschied, die drei und [Franz] Marc, Kandinsky, Filla etc..

I was in Rotterdam, but the exhibition there was horrible. Le Fauconnier has nothing to tell anymore. He has a dirty color now and has become a real academic. Mondrian is completely frozen, no poetry at all anymore. It's terrible that these people can not reach further with great ideals. To my taste paints far too much naturalistic. A big difference, these three, compared to [Franz] Marc, Kandinsky, Filla etc.. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

(Dutch version, Nederlandse versie van citaat uit haar brief:) Alle mannen vergeten dat kleuren stralen moeten om de grote uitwerking te geven..

(original version, written by Jacoba in German:)Ich arbeite sehr viel und denke sehr viel. Ich möchte so gern versuchen, auf Glas zu mahlen. .. ..bitte fragen sie ihn dann [Herr Taut] ob es transparante Farbe gibt, womit man gleich auf Glas malen kann. .. ..ich möchte eine neue Technik haben, dass der Künstler so direkt das Glas verwenden kann statt Leinwand. Wenn man die Farben leuchtend geistlich haben will, dann wird es eine Zeit kommen, dass Oelfarben und Leinwand sich dafür nicht mehr eignen.. ..So wenn Sie Zeit haben, fragen Sie dann Herrn Taut ob er meine Idee versteht und vielieich den Weg kennt, den ik gehen müsse.

Nothing special is happening here in the paintersworld [of the Netherlands]; everything stays firmly the same. (translation, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)