Wobbe Alkema - Linocut colored with watercolor -1958

Linocut by Wobbe Alkema. The linocut is colored with watercolor. Untitled composition.
Dimensions including passe-partout: H43.5 x w35cm. Dimensions per performance: H12 x w14.5cm
The work is monogrammed, in black pen, by the artist. The authenticity of the work offered can be fully guaranteed. A certificate of authenticity can be emailed upon request.



Passe-partout/frames: Damage to frames is not described. If a work is framed behind glass and the glass is broken, this will be stated. Reflection may be visible in photos of framed works.

When purchased, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The collection period, if paid in advance, is very long, in other words the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the above-mentioned cities or the beach. We can also ship the work. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.

Wobbe Hendrik Alkema (Nieuw-Buinen, February 11, 1900 – Kampen, January 30, 1984) was a Dutch artist

In 1913 the Alkema family moved to Groningen. Alkema became an apprentice furniture maker and took lessons in line and technical drawing at the Avondvaktekenschool. In 1919 he enrolled for summer classes at the Minerva Academy. He also received drawing lessons from the sculptor Willem Valk. He soon decided not to become a furniture maker. He initially provided his income as a draftsman for a glass company and a stonemason respectively.

In 1922, he founded the advertising agency Atelier Voor Artistieke Reclame (AVAR) together with Jan van der Zee and Johann Faber. The three of them rented studio space on Noorderstationsstraat.

Alkema and De Ploeg
In 1924, Alkema became a member of De Ploeg (Van der Zee and Faber had already become members). As a principled teetotaler, he did not play a prominent role in the club life of De Ploeg. Only in 1925 did he participate once in the Ploeg exhibition.

Alkema had been making highly stylized drawings since 1920. He gradually developed a geometric-abstract style of work in which circle, triangle and rectangle became defining form elements. The local press had difficulty with this constructivism. It was referred to as 'block fantasies' or 'block jokes'. In 1924 Alkema visited Antwerp, where he visited Jozef Peeters and Felix de Boeck, among others. Both were involved in the Belgian art magazine Het Overzicht, which had a constructivist orientation. De Boeck can be considered one of the most important founders of abstract painting in Belgium. Alkema's contacts in Belgium were especially important for confirming his own artistry; there is hardly any artistic influence (Hofsteenge, 1993, 73). Alkema's work appeared in the monthly magazine De Driehoek, the successor to Het Overzicht, in 1925 and 1926. There were also contacts with Bart van der Leck and Gerrit Rietveld, but the members of De Stijl were too theoretical for him.

In 1925 Alkema left 'De Ploeg'. In 1926 he wanted to become a member again, but his request was rejected in the membership meeting. A possible reason is that it was not considered useful to have one constructivist in the circle, because the work of Jan van der Zee, also a constructivist until then, changed in style.

Standstill
Alkema's work around 1930 shows the influences of Wassily Kandinsky. He was an admirer of his work. However, Alkema's artistic production stopped in 1932 or 1933. Forced by the economic recession, he had had to give up his job as an architectural draftsman at the Van Linge architectural firm. In the years that followed, he supported himself by carrying out small assignments such as drawing for a cliché factory, minor renovations, or by functioning as a supervisor during restoration work. Between 1933 and 1935 he and his wife Dora Bittkow managed a youth hostel on the Oosterbroek estate near Eelde. In 1941 he was given daily management of the restoration of the Romanesque church in Anloo. Alkema moved to Assen with his family.

Between 1930 and 1940 he made trips to Germany, after which he returned in a gloomy mood about the developments there. He was so moved by the hostile attitude towards modern art in Germany (Entartete Kunst) that he destroyed much of his own work (Van Garrel, 1984). It wasn't until 1947 that he started painting again.

Post-war revival
In 1948 Alkema moved again to Groningen. The work that was created in the 1950s shows signs of surrealism. In 1951 he became a member of De Ploeg again, but shortly afterwards joined Het Narrenschip, the artist group founded in 1950 by Ekke Kleima, Jan Jordens and Jan van der Zee.

In 1958 he moved to Kampen, where he was involved in the restoration of the Nicolaaskerk. He had his own studio again. The paintings that were created here show a great variation in the use of form. Thematic groups of paintings emerged (Hofsteenge, 1993, 75). Interest in his work grew, partly due to the arrival of Jos de Gruyter as director of the Groninger Museum. In 1960, Alkema had his first one-man exhibition in this museum. Despite the growing interest, Alkema rarely sold any of his work. The paintings had become too much a part of his life to be able to part with them.

The move to Kampen did not prevent him from remaining involved in the fortunes of De Ploeg. He helped Ad Petersen collect data for his doctoral thesis on De Ploeg, which was completed in 1957. This thesis, later published by BZZTôH, was the start of a series of publications with which De Ploeg as an art circle became increasingly better documented.

Wobbe Alkema died at the age of 83.