Theo van Hoytema
Theo van Hoytema (Theodorus van Hoytema or Hoijtema, born December 18, 1863 in The Hague , † August 28, 1917 ibid) was a Dutch painter, lithographer and illustrator who devoted himself to depicting birds.
Theo van Hoytema was born as the youngest of eight children from Dominicus van Hoytema and Maria Eva van Oordt. His parents died in the 1870s and he came to Klein Stadwijk, a village in Voorschoten , with some siblings . There he received his first drawing lessons from his eldest sister. He attended the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Leiden and passed an exam with two of his older brothers which enabled them to find employment with a financial company. However, Theo was not satisfied with office life and decided to become an artist.
He began studying at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague . During his studies he drew and painted the stuffed animals in the National Natural History Museum in Leiden . His uncle Adriaan van Oordt, the director of the Brill publishing house , gave him his first orders for scientific illustrations. From 1889 he began to experiment with lithography.
In 1890 he found an apartment in a garden house in Binckhorst Castle. After the success of his first picture book about birds, "Hoe de Vogels aan een koning kwamen" (How birds came to a king), he married Martina Hogervorst in 1891 and moved to Loosduinen . However, the marriage remained childless and ended in divorce in 1902.
In 1892 he became a member of the Haagschen Kunstkring and in 1893 he joined the Arti et Amicitiae . In the same year he published an illustrated edition of Hans Christian Andersen's " Ugly Duckling " , followed by several other picture books with pictures of birds. Hoytema moved to Voorburg in 1894 and to Hilversum in 1897 . For a while he stayed with his family in London .
Because of his worsening health he was treated in a hospital in 1904 and 1905 and in a sanatorium for nervous patients in 1906. Then he lived in The Hague with his sister, who looked after him for the rest of his life. During this time he made the bird calendars that later made him famous.
Theo van Hoytema was buried in the Oud Eik en Duinen cemetery in The Hague.
literature
- IM de Groot (ed.): De grafiek van Theo van Hoytema (exhibition catalog), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1977.
- IM de Groot: Hoijtema, Theodoor van . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland Volume 3. The Hague 1989 ( digitized version )
- Marjan Boot et al., Theo van Hoytema 1863-1917 . Waanders, Zwolle 1999, ISBN 90-400-9387-3 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hoytema, Theo van |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hoytema, Theodorus van; Hoijtema, Theo van |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch painter, lithographer and illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 18, 1863 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 28, 1917 |
| Place of death | The hague |