Date: Fri 08-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Pieter-DeHooch-Wadsworth

Full Text:

The Mystery And The Mastery Of Dutch Painter Pieter De Hooch

(with cuts)

HARTFORD -- The Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, who led a quiet revolution with

a painter's brush during Holland's golden age, is having his first-ever solo

show -- 314 years after his death -- at the Wadsworth Atheneum through

February 28.

When it was on view at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, "Pieter de

Hooch, 1629-1684" broke attendance records at the museum. It has earned

glowing reviews from The Times, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, The

Independent, The Telegraph and The Sunday Mail .

"Pieter de Hooch's pictures are regularly featured in anthologies of the

so-called Delft school and surveys of Dutch art, but surprisingly he has never

had a one-person show until now," said Wadsworth Atheneum director Peter C.

Sutton, who curated the exhibition. (Mr Sutton's 1980 monograph with a

catalogue raissone was the first substantial examination of the artist's

oeuvre since 1907.)

"While de Hooch has been overshadowed by his more famous colleague, Johannes

Vermeer, he was a pioneer of naturalism and his expressive command of

perspective and light has been consistently admired by artists, collectors and

the public for more than three centuries," stated Mr Sutton.

"Indeed, his tender and luminous paintings of mothers and children are the

most beloved images in all of Dutch art.

"Popularity aside, de Hooch was a quiet revolutionary," he continued. "He

introduced new domestic subjects that embodied the social ideals of the

Protestant United Netherlands. As no artist before, he celebrated themes of

maternal devotion and household order.

"An originator of cityscape painting, he made a specialty of courtyard scenes

and also was the first to depict the grand galleries of Amsterdam's new Town

Hall, then hailed as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

"Yet, however naturalistic de Hooch's paintings may appear, his goal was not

reportorial fidelity, but a cunningly contrived illusion of reality," Mr

Sutton concluded.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is the only US venue for the international loan

exhibition, which assembles 37 pictures from more than 26 museums and private

collections, including The Royal Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II;

The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg; Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam;

National Gallery in London; Musee du Louvre in Paris; Fundacion Coleccion

Thyssen-Bornemizsa in Madrid; National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; The

J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New

York.

Pieter de Hooch was born in Rotterdam in 1629, the son of a bricklayer and a

midwife. What little is known of his life comes from his 167 extant paintings,

Arnold Houbraken's chronicle of artists' lives (1721), and reports that he

studied with the Dutch Italianate landscapist Nicolaes Berchem, probably in

Haarlem.

He settled in Delft around 1652 and married Jannetge van der Burch in 1654.

They had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. The de Hooch family

moved to Amsterdam by 1661.

The artist's last years were engulfed by mystery and tragedy. He died in

Amsterdam's insane asylum in 1684 at the age of 54.

Tracing de Hooch's development, the selective overview begins with five early

tavern and guard room scenes (circa 1660-65) which relate to the artistic

traditions of his native Rotterdam. The artist's intensely creative, mature

Delft period (1657-1660) is represented by 15 paintings demonstrating his

mastery of sophisticated spatial design.

The latter part of de Hooch's career, dating from his move to the wealthy city

of Amsterdam, is marked by increasingly dark and elegant genre paintings and

family portraits. This period is illustrated by 17 artworks, dated 1661-1667.

The exhibit is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue written by Peter C. Sutton.

With 55 color illustrations and 60 black-and-white illustrations, the volume

discusses the author's recent discoveries -- de Hooch's experiments with

perspective, his intuitive approach to composition, and his probable influence

upon Johannes Vermeer.

The catalogue also examines the social and political context of his art in the

United Netherlands.

Published by the Wadsworth Atheneum in association with Yale University Press,

the hardcover catalogue is $45. A softcover edition priced at $24.95 is

available at the Wadsworth's museum shop.

On Saturday, January 30, the atheneum will present a symposium featuring

Arthur Wheelock of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and curator

of the blockbuster Vermeer exhibition; Professor Wayne Franits of Syracuse

University, an authority on domestic scenes in Dutch art; and other noted

speakers. For information, call 860/278-2670, extension 3049.

General museum admission is $7. The Wadsworth Atheneum is at 600 Main Street.

It is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm.

There will be a $3 surcharge above general museum admission for the

exhibition. During the museum's free general admission hours on Thursdays and

on Saturday mornings, only the surcharge will be collected.