Fish

ADRIAAN JOHANNES VAN ’T HOFF

The Hague 1893-1939 Wassenaar

Ink on plywood 50 x 60 cm.

Provenance
Former collection Willem Hoogendijk

Adrianus Johannes van ’t Hoff (1893-1939) was an artist active in The Hague in the early 20th century. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in that city and would later also teach drawing at the Royal Academy.

Apart from travels to Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, he always continued to work in The Hague and exhibited frequently at Pulchri. His choice of subject matter was quite limited: landscapes, still lifes, and animals, including both birds and fish.

He was active in multiple fields as an artist, designer, and illustrator: Van ‘t Hoff painted, drew, and etched. Consequently, part of his oeuvre is distributed as lithographs. It is possible that this work was also a design for an unexecuted lithograph.

The technique of this work is not very common: black and colored ink applied directly with a brush onto an unprimed panel, with some underdrawings in graphite and pencil. The fish are applied to the panel with tremendous dynamism, and the differences from the underdrawing also seem to indicate a quick sketch.

The graphic style and the fish resembling carp betray a Japanese influence.

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