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Adriaan Herman Gouwe (1875-1965)
'Landscape with palm trees'
pastel chalk on paper
31 x 22 cm (excluding frame)
approx. 53 x 44 cm (including frame)
signed lower left
Gouwe studied at the School of Applied Arts and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. The young artist's talent did not go unnoticed for long, which is why he won the Prix de Rome in 1901. He lived and worked in Italy for over two years. His stay in Italy had awakened his wanderlust, which made him pack his bags again; this time to France, Spain and Morocco. During his stay in the Netherlands, he lived alternately - for a longer or shorter period - in Amsterdam, Blaricum, Eemnes, Gulpen and Laren and he mainly painted landscapes.
In Paris he read about Tahiti in the newspaper. The island where the French painter Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) had retreated. Without sharing his plans with many friends, Gouwe left for the island in 1927. The artist's goal was not so much to follow in the footsteps of the French master, but the success he had in the Netherlands overwhelmed him. On the Polynesian island he hoped to be freed from the pressure to perform and to find the peace and quiet he needed to be able to work. The new environment provided a new theme and a different use of color. Again his talent did not go unnoticed; for example, the well-known collector Pierre Alexandre Regnault (1868-1954) bought more than forty watercolors from the painter. It took more than thirty years before Gouwe returned to the Netherlands for a short time in 1959, accompanied by no fewer than three full crates of paintings, watercolors and drawings. The privilege fell to the then director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Willem Sandberg. He made a selection and organised an exhibition. What remained was exhibited and sold elsewhere.
The work that Herman Gouwe made on the island is unique because it is completely free from external influences. What he painted are mainly the islanders and nature of which this chalk drawing can be called a good illustration!
The painting is in a handmade frame and behind museum glass.
Museums: including the Drents Museum in Assen, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.