Lot Essay
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A COLLECTION OF WORKS BY KASPAR NIEHAUS
Kaspar Niehaus was well known in the Dutch art scene in the first half of this century as an artist but also as an influential art cirtic of the largest Dutch newspaper 'De Telegraaf' for which he worked from 1918 till 1953.
Niehaus was born in 1889 in Groningen and was educated at the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam with Derkinderen as director. In 1911 he travelled to Paris in the company of John Rädecker, Jaap Bendien and Hildo Krop.
In 1953, Niehaus decided to stop writing and to dedicate himself entirely to painting. Niehaus developed a very personal style based upon the principle that he would only paint "schone menschen in een schone natuur" ("beautiful people in a beautiful nature"). In his idealistic landscapes man and animal seem to live in an eternal state of paradise. Niehaus' predilection for monumental, classicist compositions shows his admiration for such artstits as Poussin, Puvis de Chavannes and Seurat. The latter's Dimanch à la Grande Jatte probably inspired Niehaus' best known work viz. Summerday at the Amstel, now in the Haagse Gemeentemuseum.
In 1962 Sandberg, the then director of the Stedelijk Museum Asmterdam, organized the first major retrospective of Niehaus. The artist died in 1974 in Bergen.
Kasper Niehaus (1889-1974)
Details
Kasper Niehaus (1889-1974)
The artist and his models
oil on canvas
117.5 x 89 cm
The artist and his models
oil on canvas
117.5 x 89 cm
Provenance
Family of the artist