Chris Lebeau

Chris Lebeau (self-portrait 1935)

Chris Lebeau , real name: Joris Johannes Christiaan Lebeau (born May 26, 1878 in Amsterdam ; † April 2, 1945 in Dachau concentration camp ), was a Dutch artist, art teacher, theosophist and anarchist .

Life

Chris Lebeau was born the fourth child into a working class family. His father Jacques Charles Lebeau, a staunch socialist , was, among other things, a machinist and shopkeeper. Chris Lebeau, born in a basement apartment and raised in a financially poor family, helped his father sell the anarchist magazine Recht voor Allen (“Right for All”) in his youth . His mother Grietje Scholte was able to contribute to a modest additional income for the family by sewing. Due to the socialist conviction and the street sales of Recht voor Allen , his father, who was fond of alcohol, often had to change his profession. The window panes of the family's apartment were also often demolished. Chris Lebeau was a teetotaler , vegetarian , non-smoker and never drank coffee or tea.

Dutch postage stamps designed by Lebeau, in circulation 1926–1939

He called himself a "religieuze anarcho-communist" (literally: religious anarcho-communist ). His religious worldview was not based on Christian anarchism , as for example with the Dutch anarchists Lodewijk van Mierop and Felix Ortt , but on theosophy . At the theosophical school Vâhanaschool he was influenced by JLM Lauweriks and KPC de Bazel as an artist and theosophist for the rest of his life.

For Lebeau, self-development (“zelfsontploiing”), independence (“zelfswerkzaamheid”) and free expression of opinion were of great importance. He represented freedom of expression under all circumstances as a teacher and during his imprisonment vis-à-vis the National Socialists .

From 1892 to 1895 he took drawing lessons at the "Amsterdamse Kunstnijverheid Tekenschool" (about: Amsterdam School of Drawing for Applied Arts ) and from 1895 to 1898 at the "Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid" ( State School for Applied Arts ).

Lebeau was seen as a versatile artist. Among other things, he designed designs for the linen factory "van Diesel" in Eindhoven and for the "Glasfabrik Leerdam". Designs for clay pots at the “Amphora” factory in Oegstgeest , as well as for wallpaper, postage stamps, book covers, catalogs and decorations for theaters. He also made woodcuts and sculptures . As an artist, influenced by CA Lion Cachet, he remained the Art Nouveau Art Nouveau faithful to the 1930s.

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  Portrait of Hannah Höch (1933)

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  Self-Portrait (1933)

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  Portrait Sixta Heddema (1936)

As a teacher he worked at a technical school for the arts and crafts in the Jordaan district in Amsterdam and from 1904 to 1914 at the School vor Kunstnijverheid ("School for the arts and crafts") in Haarlem . With the apprentices from the School of Applied Arts, he regularly went to Artis Zoo to make natural and animal drawings.

In 1908 he worked briefly in Antwerp and after 1914 for six months with a theater group in the Dutch East Indies . He also worked in France. In 1900 he introduced batik at the World Exhibition in Paris , which was almost unknown in Europe at the time. He attended events by anarchists and anti-militarists . Lebeau drew illustrations, caricatures and posters for the magazine De Wapens Neder from the Internationale Anti-Militaristische Vereeniging (IAMV) (“International Antimilitarist Association”). Also for the anarchist magazines De Maker and Bevrijding .

For the anarchist Bart de Ligt he designed an ex-libris and a portrait for Albert de Jong . Some of the anti-militarist stamps he designed were never printed. In contrast, the postage stamp Vgende Postduif ("Flying Post Dove") from 1924 was his most popular work. The stamp was printed in various versions long until after World War II . Lebeau also worked with wall paintings, landscape paintings, self-portraits and drawings.

“He drew portraits, figures and dune landscapes with materials such as gold and silver pencils. Lebeau had great technical knowledge and was happy to pass it on to friends and artists; so he helped Jan Mankes, Dirk Nijland and Anton Pieck . ” Lebeau was considered the most versatile and productive artist of his time. (Rudolf de Jong). In the Drents Museum in Assen , the British Museum, the Rijksmuseum Eindhoven and the Glass Museum Leerdam works are exhibited by him.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Lebeau entered into a marriage of convenience with a Jewish woman who had fled the Nazis . In November 1943 they were both arrested on the grounds that they had offered their help to Jewish Dutch people. Lebeau took all responsibility, whereby his wife was released. He himself would have been released from prison if he had promised not to engage in illegal activities such as forging documents in the future. Lebeau refused and was taken to Kamp Vught in February 1944 . In May 1944 he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Here, too, he remained a vegetarian, gave some of his food to fellow prisoners and, for example, refused to eat soup because he assumed there was meat in it. He died of typhus in Dachau .

Chris Lebeau was married twice, in 1902 (until 1919) to Anna M. Leverington and in 1935 to Ilse Ruth Voigt. In 1932 he lived in a wild marriage with Maria Sofia Herman. He was the father of a daughter.

Works by Lebeau in the Fredericus en Odulfuskerk, Leiden

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  View to the altar

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  Side wall

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  Leaded glass window

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  Praying

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  The Evangelist Matthew

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  John the Evangelist

See also

Anarchism in the Netherlands

proof

further reading

Books:

• L. Gans: Nieuwe Kunst. De Nederlandse bijdrage tot de Art Nouveau. Decorative art, kunstnijverheid en architektuur omstreeks 1900. Utrecht 1966. p. 31.
• HE van Gelder: Chris Lebeau 1878-1945 . Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 16 (1965). Pp. 159-198.
• Mechteld de Bois: Chris Lebeau 1878-1945. Drents Museum - Frans Hals Museum, Assen-Haarlem 1987. ISBN 90-70884-07-0 .
• W. van Meurs: Chris Lebeau. In: Elsevier's geïllustreerd maandschrift, Volume 17, 1907. P. 33, 289–292.
• Jan Pieter Strijbos: Vogelvrij: mensen en tijden die ik gekend heb. Uitgeverij Schuyt, 1976. p. 75. ISBN 90-60970-67-5 .

Magazines:

• Dutch anarchists in de Tweede Wereldoorlag. In De As magazine , No. 158. Author: Rudolf de Jong, Hans Ramaer. Het Verzet van Chris Lebeau. P. 17.

Web links

Commons : Chris Lebeau  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Joris Johannes Christiaan ("Chris") . 78 illustrations designed by Lebeau.
• Art of the Print . Information in English about Lebeau and illustration "Landscape in Maremma".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ biography. Author: Rudolf de Jong . In the Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA). Originally published in BWSA 6, 1995. Last changed February 10, 2003. Dutch, accessed February 27, 2013
2. ↑ Chris Lebeau . Information from "kunstbus.nl"
3. ↑ Cf. on this: Mechteld de Bois: Chris Lebeau 1878-1945 . After de Boris, Lebeau attended school from 1892 to 1895
4. ↑ Stichting van Mourik ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . About Lebeau's genre and technology. Dutch, accessed February 27, 2013. 
5. ↑ See also: L. Gans: Nieuwe Kunst. De Nederlandse bijdrage tot de Art Nouveau. Decorative art, kunstnijverheid en architectuur omstreeks 1900. p. 31.
6. ↑ See also: HE van Gelder: Chris Lebeau 1878-1945 . Pp. 159 to 198.
7. ↑ Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Dutch, accessed February 27, 2013.  
8. ↑ Community Museum in Helmond ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Dutch, accessed February 27, 2013 
9. ↑ Quotation from the Stichting van Mourik ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . About Lebeau's genre and technology. Dutch, accessed on February 27, 2013. Quote: “Hij tekende portretten, figuurstukken en duinlandschappen met materialen als goud- en zilverstift. Lebeau complaints about great technical skills in hij droeg deze graag over aan vrienden en medekunstenaars; zo hielp hij Jan Mankes, Dirk Nijland and Anton Pieck. " 
10. ↑ British Museum ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Glass vase, designed by Chris Lebeau (English)  
11. ^ In the Rijksmuseum Eindhoven
12. ↑ Nationaal Glasmuseum Leerdam ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.