Thursday 28 October 2010

Alberta Johanna Meijer Smetz



Alberta Johanna Meijer-Smetz
(1893-1953)

Dutch flower and stillife painter, illustrator and etcher.

Alberta entered the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and took drawing and painting lessons. She later married one of her teachers the painter Johannes Meyer (1875-1970).
She painted mainly flowers, and how well she did. This lovely little Nasturtiums in a ginger jar was my first acquaintance with Alberta Smetz collecting pictures and examples of Nasturtiums in paintings and printings in the Arts and Crafts period. She and her husband became members of the Laren art colony. They lived in Blaricum.
As often, once interested I shortly after found these poppies in a blue vase on a local market and recognized the maker. It's a gouache with a beautiful of the period but damaged frame which I patiently repaired.

Alberta illustrated and designed catalogues for florists (bread and butter) and also made the pictures for this 1930�s album-book to be filled with pictures. This time not collected by eating biscuits, like the famous Verkade albums (see posting of sept. 20th) but drinking coffee and tea. Like the Verkade albums it is stacked with great pictures like this nasturtiums I found inside.

A printed copy of a gouache. I love nasturtiums and these are just great. Good enough to award and honour Alberta Smetz with a small posting.

3 comments:

  1. You are very assiduous and quite amazing.

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  2. thank you Haji, it's fun making these postings and sharing them and noticing they are read and enjoyed. stay with me because there is more to come. your comments (and posting on "modern printmakers") likewise appriciated.

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  3. An enjoyable posting. I also love the nasturtiums but the poppies are wonderful too. Very simple but, clearly created with love.

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