Lot 333: Notre Dame, Paris

Jaap Weijand (DUTCH, 1886-1960)
Notre Dame, Paris
signed and dated '-Jaap Weijand-/1922' (lower left)
oil on canvas
46 x 54.5 cm.;
and Another oil on canvas depicting a cornfield, by the same hand. (2)

Jaap Weijand (Amsterdam 1886 - Bakkum 1960)

After his formal education at the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid and the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten, both in Amsterdam, followed by a brief period in roaring Paris in 1908, Jaap Weijand plunged in the heart of the artistic developments in Amsterdam. As a member of St. Lucas he exhibited his luminist paintings side by side with Leo Gestel, Jan Sluijters and Piet Mondriaan, causing turmoil in the newspapers of those days. Being a committee member of the Moderne Kunstkring, later De Nieuwe Kring, and as a resident of artist's communities such as the Jan Steenzolder and Meerhuizen aan de Amstel, Weijand was an active and prominent member of the Amsterdam artist's society. Collectors like J.F.S. Esser, S.B. Slijper, Willem Beffie and Jacques Goudstikker aquired works by his hand.

Weijand's move to the artist's village of Bergen, Noord-Holland, was soon visible in the square divisionist colour fields and the dark brush-stroke of the Bergense School he incorporated in his own luminist touch, often executed in the colours dominating his oeuvre: ochre, vermillion and indigo-blue.

Through the intervenience of B.W.F. van Riemsdijk, director of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Weijand met Carel and Mimi de Visser-Roelofs, who were to be his patrons from 1916 to 1929. Their financial contribution in exchange for the first choice of his works allowed Weijand to maintain his large family. Weijand determined the picture-frames, resulting in rough and simple frames lining the many works on the walls of the De Visser residence Denheim in Bloemendaal.
[This exclusive arrangement may have limited Weijands exposure of the high point in his oeuvre. As there was no economic need to sell his paintings to others, he remained relatively unknown to a wider public. It has been suggested that the reason for the hiatus of Weijand's work in the Bergense School collection of Piet Boendermaker was that the latter felt put off being offered only 'second choice' paintings.]

During the patronage of thirteen years Weijand painted his most powerful works. Now at last a small selection is available to the public, after being admired and cherished by its first owners for nearly a century.
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