Bart van der Leck (1876-1958)
‘Two bottles and an apple’, 1946
Silver necklace with small round glazed terracotta medallion with abstract decor.
Medallion signed with the artists monogram ‘BvdL‘ and 46
Necklace and fixture marqued with siver hallmark grade 925
Medallion dimensions: 42 x 5 mm
Unique ( No other example known) round ceramic medallion with abstract decor in primary colors with black and gray, depicting a still live of two bottles and an apple. The medallion is mounted in a silver fixture hanging on a silver chain of a later date.
About the artist:
Bart van der Leck was a highly versatile artist. In addition to creating paintings, he was involved in interior design commissions, corporate identity design, typography, stained glass, carpets, and ceramics. He was a key pioneer of modernism and one of the founders of the Dutch aesthetic movement ‘De Stijl’. Around 1916, he introduced an idiom of geometric forms in primary colors into his work. With this radically new way of working, he inspired not only his ‘De Stijl’ colleagues, such as Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietveld, but also artists, designers, and architects worldwide to break new ground.
Van der Leck started experimenting with making decorative ceramics, around 1934. The rough unglazed objects were made at a local pottery called Hobbel and at potter Brouwer from Leiderdorp. After he carefully mixed the colored glazes in his studio, Van der Leck painted each composition and decor himself and then fired them in one of his own pottery kilns.
Provenance:
Eleonora van der Leck-Schonk; Annetje Schonk- van der Meer; Jurriaan van der Meer; Van den Bruinhorst Gallery
To our knowledge, 5 unique small ceramic round medallions by Van der Leck have been preserved, all with a different decor. Two of these medallions were worn on a necklace; one (the copy here on offer) by a granddaughter of Van der Leck, this copy came into the possession of a great-grandson of Van der Leck by inheritage.
Marked at reverse; the artist’s monogram BvdL and an arrow indicating which side of the decor is up and the year ’46
Decor:
Most of the ceramic objects that Van der Leck made, have a decor of abstracted animals or geometric figures. To our knowledge, the medallion here on offer is one out of the two ceramic objects Van der Leck made depicting a still life. A subject Van der Leck used before in abstract paintings from the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Condition and restorations:
The medallion is mounted/glued by a jeweler in a silver fixture and is in good condition, no restorations are known. The glaze shows the usual crackle of Van der Leck’s ceramics.
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