Without me knowing and realizing it I collected many van der Leck titles. Probably because subconsciously i must have realized that for me personally van der Leck is more important than Piet Mondriaan. Both are of course important members of DE STIJL group but where Mondrian is the artist who developed his art from realism into pure abstraction, van der Leck is the artist where realism was always present in his abstract works. When you look a little longer at his compositions you can distinguish the objects he depicted in his works. Take a look at these ducks…Yes it is a typical DE STIJL composition with primary colors, but you can clearly see the ducks in this painting.
Bart van der Leck was born in the Dutch city of Utrecht on November 26th, 1876. He started working as a glazier, but began focusing on his artistic career soon after. He started his studies at the Art Academy in Amsterdam soon after 1898. He was initially influenced by Isaac Israëls and mainly depicted scenes from everyday life. After he finished his education, his realistic working style became a more monumental and modern one.
In 1907 he rented a room in a farming establishment in Blaricum. His only possessions were a small painting chest and some clothing. He lived in complete isolation for a period of four months and thus many paintings depicting Blaricum and its surrounding area exist from his hand.
It is known Van Der Leck was a friend of fellow painter Mondriaan. They both possessed progressive working styles and their paintings were not appreciated by the painters of the Laren School.
Together with Mondriaan and a few other names, Van Der Leck can be held accountable for the establishment of ‘De Stijl'(1917). He passed away in Blaricum on November 13th, 1958.
Here are some of the van der Leck titles available at www.ftn-books.com
