Wobbe Alkema - Linosnede - Sold

Linocut by Wobbe Alkema. Dimensions including passe-partout: H50 x W36.5cm. Dimensions representation: H13 x W10cm
The work is monogrammed, in black pen, by the artist. The authenticity of the work offered can be fully guaranteed. A certificate of authenticity can be emailed upon request.



Passe-partout/frames: Damage to frames is not described. If a work is framed behind glass and the glass is broken, this will be mentioned. Reflections may be visible in photos of framed works.

When purchasing, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The term for collection, if paid in advance, is very long, in other words, the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the aforementioned cities or the beach. We can also ship the work. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.

Wobbe Hendrik Alkema (Nieuw-Buinen, February 11, 1900 – Kampen, January 30, 1984) was a Dutch artist

In 1913 the Alkema family moved to Groningen. Alkema became an apprentice furniture maker and took lessons in line and technical drawing at the Evening Vocational Drawing School. In 1919 he enrolled in summer classes at the Academy Minerva. He also received drawing lessons from the sculptor Willem Valk. He soon gave up becoming a cabinetmaker. He initially provided his income as a draftsman for a glass company and a stonemason respectively.

In 1922 he founded the advertising agency Atelier Voor Artistic Advertising (AVAR) together with Jan van der Zee and Johann Faber. The three of them rented studio space on Noorderstationsstraat.

Alkema and De Ploeg
In 1924 Alkema became a member of De Ploeg (Van der Zee and Faber had already become members). As a teetotaller on principle, he did not play a prominent role in De Ploeg's club life. Only in 1925 did he take part in the Ploeg exhibition.

Alkema has been making highly stylized drawings since 1920. Gradually he developed a geometric-abstract style of work in which circle, triangle and rectangle became defining form elements. The local press had difficulty with this constructivism. It was referred to as 'cube fantasies' or 'cube pranks'. In 1924 Alkema visited Antwerp, where he visited, among others, Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck. Both were involved in the Belgian art magazine Het Overview, which had a constructivist orientation. De Boeck can be regarded as one of the most important founders of abstract painting in Belgium. Alkema's contacts in Belgium were especially important for the confirmation of his own artistry; there is hardly any artistic influence (Hofsteenge, 1993, 73). In 1925 and 1926, work by Alkema appeared in the magazine De Driehoek, the successor to Het Overview. There were also contacts with Bart van der Leck and Gerrit Rietveld, but the members of De Stijl were too theoretical for him.

In 1925 Alkema left 'De Ploeg'. In 1926 he wanted to become a member again, but his request was rejected in the members' meeting. A possible reason is that it was not considered useful to have one constructivist in the circle, because the work of Jan van der Zee, also a constructivist until then, changed in style.

Standstill
Alkema's work around 1930 shows the influences of Wassily Kandinsky. He was an admirer of his work. In 1932 or 1933, however, Alkema's artistic production stopped. Forced by the economic recession, he had to give up his job as an architectural draftsman at the Van Linge architectural firm. In the following years he provided for himself by carrying out small assignments such as drawing for a cliché factory, small renovations, or by functioning as a supervisor during restoration work. Between 1933 and 1935 he and his wife Dora Bittkow managed a youth hostel on the Oosterbroek estate near Eelde. In 1941 he was given the day-to-day management of the restoration of the Romanesque church in Anloo. Alkema moved to Assen with his family.

Between 1930 and 1940 he had made trips to Germany, after which he returned gloomy because of the developments there. He was so taken by the hostile attitude towards modern art in Germany (Entartete Kunst) that he destroyed much of his own work (Van Garrel, 1984). It was not until 1947 that he started painting again.

Post-war revival
In 1948 Alkema moved to Groningen again. The work that was created in the 1950s shows features of surrealism. In 1951 he became a member of De Ploeg again, but shortly afterwards joined Het Narrenschip, the artists' group founded in 1950 by Ekke Kleima, Jan Jordens and Jan van der Zee.

In 1958 he moved to Kampen, where he was involved in the restoration of the Nicolaas Church. He had his own studio again. The paintings that were created here show a great variety in form. Thematic groups of paintings emerged (Hofsteenge, 1993, 75). Interest in his work grew, partly due to the arrival of Jos de Gruyter as director of the Groninger Museum. In 1960 Alkema had his first one-man exhibition in this museum. Despite the growing interest, Alkema rarely sold any of his work. The paintings had become too much a part of his life to be able to part with them.

The move to Kampen did not prevent him from remaining involved in the ups and downs of De Ploeg. He helped Ad Petersen collect data for his doctoral thesis on De Ploeg, which was completed in 1957. This thesis, later published by BZZTôH, was the beginning of a series of publications, with which De Ploeg as an art circle became better and better documented.

Wobbe Alkema passed away at the age of 83.