JAN SIRKS, ROTTERDAM PORT, ETCHING ON PAPER, SIGNED, 1912
ABOUT
Jan Sirks Rotterdam Port etching on wove paper, signed in pencil. Etchings became the main medium for Sirks between 1912-1915. His choice of subject matter was focused on the water’s edge of Rotterdam’s canals, ports and rivers. It’s an energetic turbulence of waves and movement, done in a painterly style that he has captured in zinc.
- CREATOR Jan Sirks (1885-1938).
- DATE OF MANUFACTURE 1912-1915.
- MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Etching on paper.
- CONDITION Good. Wear consistent with age and use.
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DIMENSIONS Sheet: H 15 in. x W 22 in., Image: H 13 in. W 19 in.
HISTORY
JAN SIRKS (1885 – 1938)
Jan Sirks was born in Rotterdam and attended Rotterdam H.B.S –Alkemadeplein. At the encouragement of his mother, he enrolled at the art academy in Rotterdam, but his life as a student at the country’s leading art institution was short-lived. He took a studio in 1911 in the Wine Harbor, advertised for a model in 1912, and met Hillegonda Mol who would become his wife and business partner. In 1915 Sirks had solo exhibitions at Caramelli and Tessaro in Utrecht. He joined the Theosophical Society and was enlisted with the Dutch Land Brigade. Over the next few years Sirks developed his portfolio of etchings, painting abstract visions and exhibiting with other avant-garde artists such as Jan Toorop, Hendrik Chabot, Piet Mondriaan and Herman Bieling. He took on committee roles with The Surk (De Branding) and The Signal (The Bergen School). The last year of the war was tragic on a personal level because of the still-birth of his first son, but he emerged from this dark time with a vibrant palette and his subject matter became increasingly more action oriented.
The 1920s were a tremendously productive and rewarding phase in Sirks’s life. His three children were born and his work was highly regarded, with a string of collectors in the Netherlands, Germany and London. In 1922 Sirks joined the Acacia Lodge in Rotterdam and became a Freemason. He travelled extensively during these years and worked in France, England and Germany. He exhibited annually and received commissions from the Holland America Line and the Dutch Olympic Committee. In 1929 he became the first Chair of the Rotterdam Artists’ Society. In the early 30s he assisted with the establishment of Oasis, a society that promoted closer ties between artists, musicians and writers. Social justice became increasingly more important to Sirks, and in 1932 he instigated the Crisis exhibition to raise funds for the many artists affected by the Depression. He increasingly sought the calm and solitude of the country, and in 1937 he left Rotterdam and moved to Den Dolder, where he worked until the last days of his life in1938.
