Jan Mankes – Hulstein Antiques

I am “one in two-hundred females with color blindness”. I can distinct primary colors pretty well, and find my self mostly struggling with some varieties of blended colors. I have always been drawn to artworks with lots of black tones like for instance those of the Dutch painter Jan Mankes, 1889-1920. When in a room with several paintings, like in the Museum of Arnhem, these are the ones that my eyes are drawn to.

When I first saw his work in our local art museum I was blown away by the paintings of Jan Mankes. The colors he uses, the topics of his works and even the small size of his paintings, accredit to the fantastic sober, dark and natural atmosphere of his artistic legacy. The frames that were used for his paintings, are made of wood and are often very broad and robust, also complimenting the petite fragile inner state of the paintings. Since that moment in the museum, (to me almost a spiritual happening) I became a big fan of his work.

Most artworks by Mankes have that darkness that I like. A literal darkness. I think the scarceness of bright and light colors is in beautiful contrast with Mankes smooth, powdery and gentle streak.

His sometimes unusual use of color and the dark blend, makes me wonder if Mankes might have been colorblind. It takes one to know one I suppose?Darkness in old paintings, like that in the paintings of the great masters, Rembrandt van Rijn for instance, was often caused by the layer upon layer of yellowed and browned lacquer and the dependence on natural sources of daylight. Pure black paint, like we can use nowadays, was not used in the painters of the old masters. The darkness was actually created by mixing colors until very dark versions of that color were created. Next to that, their paint and pigments where natural and made by following very precise alchemy recipes. Sometimes the pigments and the paint where poorly made.

Changing after long periods of time because the pigments in the paint turned out to be unstable.Art lovers and artists themselves have come to associate the darkness in the paintings with the quality of the old masters. Later generations of artists have used special dark brown lacquer for their paintings in order to create that brown and yellowish veil over their works.

I have recently read some of the correspondence of Jan with his friend and art collector Gouma (1882 – 1926) The way Jan writes about the weather, nature and his environment, makes me think he was a fan of “the dark days before Christmas “as we say here in the Netherlands and actually enjoyed those beautiful soft and natural colors that come with that time of the year. I came to understand that Jan was very inspired by the woodblock prints of the Japanese artist Hokusai and he thus bought his very first etching press because he wanted to make prints himself.

In 1913 he started with his first prints and I am glad that he did because the woodblock prints and etchings by Jan Mankes are of an exceptional quality as you can see here on the left. Portraying a prickly animal so soft and touchable with only black and white as an option is truly the work of a great artist. I must say that I am always scouting to hopefully obtain one of those great woodblock prints by Jan Mankes. They are being sold for absurd amounts of money here in Jan Mankes’s Lowlands.
In 1920, Jan Mankes unfortunately died from tuberculosis when he was only 30 years old. He left a legacy of 150 small paintings, 100 drawings, and 50 graphics.

I have translated one of Jan’s many letters for reference: “A Letter from Jan Mankes”.

This is a translation that I made of one of the latest letters Mankes wrote. A letter he wrote while he was sick with Tuberculosis. It was addressed to a female friend and art collector. A few months later he died, only thirty years old. I think this letter illustrates the kind of person Jan Mankes was.

An August day can be so dusty and sobering”. “On these days you just want to disappear, escape all this misery imposing on you”.
However you know: “the serene evening will come and the Lapwing will be heard all over the lowlands”.
When taking a walk in the early morning dew and looking at the backs of the cows and the dampening trees, you know that only the thought of all these things justifies everything else on such a fierce, August day.

“You’re not to moan and curse”, and you must not try to change it and improve it, you just seek out a quiet place somewhere on a deserted piece of land, and wait, while knowing that it will come by itself.
Nature has nothing to hide, but gives everything, and those August days, they also have their place in our mental landscape. But the winterstorm nights, they will come, and so will the lovely mornings and evenings in may, those days made of intimacy.

‘Only that depth we get while living life through extremes together can make true friendships happen. Will fate allow us to go through all these stages’?

The Dutch version of this letter is found on the website: www.annezernike.nl

Jan Mankes and his colors

A letter from Jan Mankes