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 B.W. Polak, Amsterdam
– Auction Christie’s, Amsterdam, 10 December 1992, lot 189
– Kunsthandel Renée Smithuis, Heiloo (1993)
– Private collection, the Netherlands
Exhibited:
– Stedelijk van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
– Galerie Siau, Amsterdam, Zomertentoonstelling W.Bins e.a., 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
– Cultureel Centrum de Beyerd, Bredam, Kees Maks, 1979, no. 12
– Staal Bankiers, The Hague, April/May 1981
– Art fair PAN, Amsterdam, 1993
– ‘T Oude Kerkje, Kortenhoef, Kunst aan de Dijk, 2001
– Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 18 January – 21 April 2002, no 20
Literature:
– H. Redeker & A. Venema, Kees Maks 1876 – 1967, De opkomende Zon, 1976, p. 79 (ill.)
– Tableau, Vol. 3, no. 5, p. 661 (ill.)
– PAN catalogue, Amsterdam, 1993, p.141 (ill.)
– M. Jager a.o., Kees Maks, Schilder van het Mondaine Leven 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 interbellum 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.