Bart van der Leck (1876-1958)
‘Man on horseback’, 1919
Photolithograph on paper
Dimensions: 89.6 x 38.6 cm.
Signed lower right in ink with the artist’s initials: B vd L. Note in pencil on reverse: H.DE LEEUW
lithograph ‘Man on horseback’, later also called ‘The Horseman’ is a rare photolithograph, which Van der Leck used in 1919 as a poster to announce the first retrospective exhibition of his work at the association ‘Voor de kunst’ in Utrecht. For this purpose he had applied strips of paper with text around the lithograph.
The composition on the lithograph from 1919 is the same as on an oil painting that he completed in 1918 for the Dutch art-collector Helene Kröller Müller. She exceptionally lent a number of the paintings Van der Leck made earleir on for her for the exhibition in Utrecht.
Manifesto and transitional piece
‘Man on horseback’ is described in Evert van Straaten ‘Bart van der Leck’ as a composition with which Van der Leck takes an important first step towards a very personal form of abstraction in the late 1910s. With reality as the startingpoint and the end, he distances himself more from the aesthetic movement ‘De Stijl’ and the views of his colleagues Van Doesburg and Mondriaan. For that reason, RWD Oxenaar even calls ‘Man on horseback’ a manifesto in the article ‘The Birth of De Stijl: Bart van der Leck’.
Because the choice is not definitive and he also makes abstract works from 1918 to 1920 in which reality is no longer recognizable in the end result, ‘Man on horseback’ can also be seen as an important transitional piece to the way of working in painting that he developed further from the early 1920s to the end of his working life.
Another copy of the lithograph ‘Man on Horseback’ that we previously sold at the Brafa art fair in Brussels
Provenance:
Henk de Leeuw, director-owner of Metz&Co; Mrs. de Leeuw, widow of Henk de Leeuw; Daniel de Leeuw, Henk’s son
The painter Bart van der Leck worked for the avant-garde department store Metz&Co. for a long time. He was a designer of carpets, interior fabrics and designed their house style and he was an important interior and colour advisor for the department store, something he also did privately for the De Leeuw family during the redecoration of their mansion d’Leeuwrik. Warm and long-lasting friendships developed between the De Leeuw family and the Van der Leck family, which continue to this day.
It is not known when Henk de Leeuw came into possession of this lithograph. It is possible that Van der Leck, who knew Henk de Leeuw personally, gave the lithograph to him as a gift, but it is also possible that Henk de Leeuw bought the lithograph together with some tiles and a plate from the Van der Leck family after the artist’s death in the late 1950s.
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