Ludolph Berkemeier

Smokehouse in Noordwijk, circa 1910

Ludolph Georg Julius Berkemeier (born August 20, 1864 in Tilburg , † July 18, 1931 in Noordwijk aan Zee ) was a Dutch artist. Because of his chosen genre and palette, he belongs to the second generation of the Hague School . He completed his training at the art academies in Düsseldorf and Weimar. After returning to the Netherlands, he settled in Noordwijk aan Zee and had close contact with the Hague School, which was essential to his work.

life and work

He attended the Düsseldorf Art Academy for two years . In landscape painting, Eugène Gustav Dücker , who began to re-shape landscape painting at the Düsseldorf School of Painting from around 1876 (see the painting by Wilhelm von Gegerfelt , shell collector in Villerville , painted in 1876/78), had a great influence on Berkemeier. These emerging new currents in Germany, which also drew their strength from the Barbizon School , the Hague School and the Weimar School , had also influenced Berkemeier as an aspiring landscape painter and after two years of study he first went on study trips, including to Wiesbaden .

Then it went to the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar . Here he met Theodor Joseph Hagen . This looked after the subject of landscape painting. The students faced a teacher who had gone through a complete transition from Romanticism to Realism and Impressionism. In terms of art history, Hagen is seen as one of the pioneers of the German Impressionist movement. Here you can find the palette of the Hague School - the fact that he had also been to the Netherlands should not be ignored here! For Berkemeier, the essential prerequisites for this new trend were set here so that he could find his way to the Hague School after his return to the Netherlands.

Then it went back to Holland and he first settled in Baambrugge (Abcoude).

In 1896 he first went to Noordwijk aan Zee for a short time and then settled there. Here he later bought a pension and sold painting equipment and materials. He also had his studio in this village.

Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller was often here and went painting with Berkemeier in Katwijk and Noordwijk to pursue outdoor painting. During this time he was Berkemeier's teacher.

He died in Noordwijk at the age of only 66. In Noordwijk, Berkemeier was considered a painter personality.

To his oeuvre

He made use of many genres. Initially, he combined landscape painting with the genre. Then the sub-genres of beach scenes or dune landscapes, the Bomschuit'en as well as city, village and winter faces were included in his repertoire in landscape painting . In addition, he also took up the still life .

Berkemeier follows the tradition of landscape painting of the Golden Age in composing the picture . The horizon is usually in the lower third and wanders, halving depending on the choice of motif, and then it is already set in the upper third. The rising line running from bottom left to top right can also be found in his works.

He also made book illustrations and graphics.

The contact to the second generation Hague School through Wijsmuller and his membership in the artist society Arti et Amicitiae were essential for his work.

Exhibitions

1903 Stedelijke internationale tentoonstelling van kunstwerken van levende meesters, Stedelijk Museum , Amsterdam.
1907 Stedelijke internationale tentoonstelling van kunstwerken van levende meesters, Stedelijk Museum , Amsterdam.

Museums

Frans Hals Museum , Haarlem
Gemeentemuseum , The Hague
Vrienden Museum Noordwijk , Noordwijk

Bibliography

Baumgärtel, Bettina : The Düsseldorf School of Painting and its International Impact 1919–1918. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-702-9 .
Bernt, Walter: The Dutch painters and draftsmen of the 17th century. Volume 2, Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-7654-1766-5 .
Broude, Norma: Impressionism - an International Movement 1860-1920. Dumont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-8321-7454-0 .
Constable, Freda: John Constable, a biography, 1776–1837. Lavenham, Dalton, 1975, ISBN 978-0-900963-54-4 .
Noon, Patrick: John Parkers Bonington - On the Pleasure of Painting. Balding + Mansell, 1991, ISBN 978-0-300-05108-7 .
Scheen, Pieter A .: Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars, 1750–1950. 2 volumes , 's-Gravenhage (The Hague), Kunsthandel Pieter A. Scheen NV, edition 1981, pp. 37–38 (as: Berkemeier, Ludolph Georg Julius (' Ludolph ')).
Sillevis, John, Kraan, Hans and Dorn, Roland: The Hague School. Masterpieces of Dutch painting of the 19th century from Haags Gemeentemuseum. Exhibition cat. Kunsthalle Mannheim, Edition Braus, 1987, ISBN 978-3-925835-08-7 .
Stapelhourman, Marijn and Schatborn, Peter: Land & Water. Uitgeverij Wanders, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1987, ISBN 978-90-6630-093-4 .
Petrejus, EW: De Bomschuit, een verdwenen scheepstype , 1954, Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde en het Maritiem Museum “Prins Hendrik”, No. 2.
Reynolds, Graham: The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable. Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1984, ISBN 978-0-300-03151-5 .

Web links

Ludolph Berkemeier , data sheet in the portal rkd.nl

Remarks

↑ At that time, the reputation of the Düsseldorf School of Painting in its area as an important training center for landscape painters was still high, but it was already fading. The Barbizon School, the incipient Pre-Impressionism and the emerging Impressionism soon formed the avant-garde for the times.
^ Eugène Dücker was professor at this painting school from 1872 to 1916. Interesting is the Dücker line named after him, which describes the new direction - Baumgärtel, 2nd vol. P. P. 463 ff.
↑ He had not been trained by Oswald Achenbach , but contact with him cannot be ruled out. It is known that after around 1860 the technical structure of the picture, the technique of paint application and the choice of painting media by Oswald Achenbach changed. This was not without consequences for the teaching and the students and ultimately also for Dücker himself.
↑ Dücker's gradual departure from conventional landscape painting is also seen as a dawn of modernity at this painting school. These include such well-known names as Helmuth Liesegang , Wilhelm von Gregerfelt, Victor Westerholm , Fanny Churberg , Heinrich Heimes and Ernst Hardt .
↑ The teacher at the academy was called master, hence the term master class and his apprentice master class.
↑ He had initially studied from 1864 to 1868 with the landscape painter Oswald Achenbach. Achenbach had one of the master classes from 1866/67, and it cannot be ruled out that he was one of his students.
↑ Theodor Hagen went through an interesting change as an artist during his creative phase. This can be seen in a number of selected motifs such as “Am Rhein bei Kaiserswerth” (Romanticism) - this work can clearly be assigned to the landscape painting of the Düsseldorf School of Painting; in “Thunderstorm over the dunes” the influence of John Constable can be felt, who had also made many studies on cloud formation - also in the spirit of William Turner . The closest thing from Constable's oeuvre is “A Coast scene”, where the pre-stormy mood that is on the horizon is similarly captured; “Park landscape with a stream”, which can clearly be attributed to the Barbizon school, and then “Ship's Bridge over the Rhine”, which can be attributed to Amsterdam Impressionism in terms of the image structure and the colors of the Hague School - a stay in Holland should not go unmentioned , the country of the Hague School as a Dutch branch of international impressionism .
↑ It is about the international movement of Impressionism, but seen through the eyes of a German - see also Norma Broud, p. 358 ff.
↑ His most famous student is Max Liebermann, who became one of the most important personalities of German Impressionism and who had a long-term friendship with Jozef Israëls from the first generation of the Hague School.
↑ Such a revolutionary movement is seen by many artists such as u. a. borne by August Allebé from the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and the Weimar School played a part in opening up the direction of teaching and students to France and finally treading the path to modernity .
↑ In this cooperation, the successful tradition of the Barbizon School lived on - teachers and students working together in the landscape.
↑ Dutch fishing boats, whose hulls could touch the beach at low tide without the wooden hull suffering static or structural damage.
↑ For the lower third Lambert Doomer with his picture The Garden of the Inheritance of Nantes , for the center view of Asperen by Roelant Roghman and for the upper third the wool laundry by Pieter de Molijn may stand.
↑ This goes well with the Hilly Landscape with Stone Bridge by Cornelius Hendricksz. Compare Vroom.

personal data
SURNAME	Berkemeier, Ludolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Berkemeier, Ludolph Georg Julius (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch artist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 20, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tilburg
DATE OF DEATH	July 18, 1931
Place of death	Noordwijk aan Zee

[1] At that time, the reputation of the Düsseldorf School of Painting in its area as an important training center for landscape painters was still high, but it was already fading. The Barbizon School, the incipient Pre-Impressionism and the emerging Impressionism soon formed the avant-garde for the times.

[2] Eugène Dücker was professor at this painting school from 1872 to 1916. Interesting is the Dücker line named after him, which describes the new direction - Baumgärtel, 2nd vol. P. P. 463 ff.

[3] He had not been trained by Oswald Achenbach , but contact with him cannot be ruled out. It is known that after around 1860 the technical structure of the picture, the technique of paint application and the choice of painting media by Oswald Achenbach changed. This was not without consequences for the teaching and the students and ultimately also for Dücker himself.

[4] Dücker's gradual departure from conventional landscape painting is also seen as a dawn of modernity at this painting school. These include such well-known names as Helmuth Liesegang , Wilhelm von Gregerfelt, Victor Westerholm , Fanny Churberg , Heinrich Heimes and Ernst Hardt .

[5] The teacher at the academy was called master, hence the term master class and his apprentice master class.

[6] He had initially studied from 1864 to 1868 with the landscape painter Oswald Achenbach. Achenbach had one of the master classes from 1866/67, and it cannot be ruled out that he was one of his students.

[7] Theodor Hagen went through an interesting change as an artist during his creative phase. This can be seen in a number of selected motifs such as “Am Rhein bei Kaiserswerth” (Romanticism) - this work can clearly be assigned to the landscape painting of the Düsseldorf School of Painting; in “Thunderstorm over the dunes” the influence of John Constable can be felt, who had also made many studies on cloud formation - also in the spirit of William Turner . The closest thing from Constable's oeuvre is “A Coast scene”, where the pre-stormy mood that is on the horizon is similarly captured; “Park landscape with a stream”, which can clearly be attributed to the Barbizon school, and then “Ship's Bridge over the Rhine”, which can be attributed to Amsterdam Impressionism in terms of the image structure and the colors of the Hague School - a stay in Holland should not go unmentioned , the country of the Hague School as a Dutch branch of international impressionism .

[8] It is about the international movement of Impressionism, but seen through the eyes of a German - see also Norma Broud, p. 358 ff.

[9] His most famous student is Max Liebermann, who became one of the most important personalities of German Impressionism and who had a long-term friendship with Jozef Israëls from the first generation of the Hague School.

[10] Such a revolutionary movement is seen by many artists such as u. a. borne by August Allebé from the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and the Weimar School played a part in opening up the direction of teaching and students to France and finally treading the path to modernity .

[11] In this cooperation, the successful tradition of the Barbizon School lived on - teachers and students working together in the landscape.

[12] Dutch fishing boats, whose hulls could touch the beach at low tide without the wooden hull suffering static or structural damage.

[13] For the lower third Lambert Doomer with his picture The Garden of the Inheritance of Nantes , for the center view of Asperen by Roelant Roghman and for the upper third the wool laundry by Pieter de Molijn may stand.

[14] This goes well with the Hilly Landscape with Stone Bridge by Cornelius Hendricksz. Compare Vroom.