Kees Maks
(Amsterdam 1876 – 1967)
Portrait of Johanna (Jo) Elisabeth Bouwmeester (1856-1941) (c. 1915)
Signed lower left
Oil on canvas, 168.4 x 138.7 cm
Provenance:
– Collection Cécile Maks-Boas, Amsterdam (wife of the artist)
– Galerie Siau, Amsterdam (1972) (inv. no. 60556)
– Collection Johan BW Polak, Amsterdam
– Auction Christie's, Amsterdam, December 10, 1992, lot 189
– Art dealer Renée Smithuis, Heiloo (1993)
- Private collection, the Netherlands
Exhibited:
– Stedelijk van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
– Galerie Siau, Amsterdam, Summer Exhibition W.Bins ea, 10 May – 15 August 1972
– Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, Kees Maks, 17 March – 7 May 1978, no. 11
– Pulchri Studio, The Hague, Kees Maks, 1 July – 19 August 1979, no 11
– Cultural Center de Beyerd, Bredam, Kees Maks, 1979, no. 12
– Staal Bankiers, The Hague, April/May 1981
– Art fair PAN, Amsterdam, 1993
– 'T Oude Kerkje, Kortenhoef, Art on the Dike, 2001
– Kunsthal, Rotterdam, January 18 – April 21, 2002, no 20
Literature:
– H. Redeker & A. Venema, Kees Maks 1876 – 1967, The rising sun, 1976, p. 79 (ill.)
– Tableau, Vol. 3, no. 5, p. 661 (ill.)
– PAN catalog, Amsterdam, 1993, p.141 (ill.)
– M. Jager ao, Kees Maks, Painter of the Mondaine Life 1876-1967, Waanders, Zwolle, 2001, p.30, no. 20 (ill.)
Note:
Registered at the RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague under number 150412.

While in the interwar period the avant-garde spread its influence through Europe, many artists returned to a neo-classical figuration that became known as 'Retour a l'ordre'. These figurative artists, including Maks and his friend Kees van Dongen, gained considerable popularity, especially in Paris. Maks was known for his paintings of the fashionable night life. Circus acts, dancing couples and garden parties were until then unknown themes in Dutch art. Depicted on the present lot is the Dutch actress Johanna Elizabeth Bouwmeester (1856-1941), popularly known as 'Jo Bouwmeester'. The buoyant subjects and the frivolous way of painting, in simplified masses of bright, strong colours, impressed the public.