The artist Hubertine Heijermans
defines her oilpainting as follows : "it is essential to engage
on the path of discovery and emotion, and express the things seen or
make a note of moments lived".
Spontaniety and the power
of youth slowly transcend into a more mature vision, and a greater simplicity
of approach will lead to a seemingly effortless conception. Of course
it happens.. that a painting seems to get painted all by itself... but
Hubertine has not given in to easy shortcuts and remained very faithful
to the pure matter of oilpaint itself, called "pâte".
The apparent ease and her fluid brushstrokes are deeply rooted in knowledge
of the material and respectful attitude towards the nobility of oilpaint
and varnishes. Note : at the age of 60 she leaves for Spain in order
to join a Spanish Master in his painting-studio to learn more about
the secrets of the profession and paints non-stop during 5 wintermonth's
and the following 3 years again until 1999.
Hubertine Heijermans was
born in Amsterdam in 1936 and obtained a scholarship at the Rijksakademie
after a preparatory stage of 3 years with the wellknown artist Jos Rovers.
After her mariage at the
end of 1958 she settles in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she exhibits
a series of oilpaintings like "Tearoom" and "St-Tropez".
She also shows her work in Morges (Vaud) and in Scheveningen (NL), the
beautiful sea-ressort close to the Hague. Here she also has a children's
book published with about 60 illustrations.
Florence : from 1969 until
1973 Hubertine installs a painting/print studio in this Tuscan artcenter
and obtains an inscription at an American Graduate School, "Villa
Schifanoia", specialising in etching with Professor Nicolas Svietlan
Kraczyna, in order to get her degree of Master of Arts (M.A.). She exhibits
in Galleria Mazzuchelli and in Saletta Cennini. She becomes the 8th
laureate in the Premio Internazionale Brunellesco with a series of 8
oilpaintings, portraits of a Haitian girl. After which she joins her
son in Switzerland and settles in Villars-sur-Ollon close to the Alpin
College Beau-Soleil.
Exhibits of watercolours
and etchings at the Galerie Farel in Aigle in 1973, 1974, 1976. And
again in Fribourg, Sion and Lausanne (Galerie Etraz), then Porrentruy
and Bulle. In 1984, she shows colourprints in the company of sculptors
present at the sculpture Festival in Bex, called Bex & Arts. She
participates at the "Concours de la Bâtiaz" in Martigny
with a multi-plate (3 plates) colour-etching of 31 x 39 cm, realized
with "softground" technique, aquatint in 6 colours, representing
the "Bâtiaz" tower, needing 2 helpers to ink the plates
in time and pass the handmade paper through the press, before it can
shrink by drying.
In Holland, Hubertine
shows her work in Amsterdam, Delft and Leiden, and the "The Hague
Institute for Art Documentation (R.K.D.) adds the totality of her paintwork
as well as graphic work to the Archives, that are part of the Royal
Library of that town.
In the USA her work joins
the Archives of Alumni (ex-students) of the Dominican University at
River Forest, Illinois.
Hubertine gives a large
personal exhibit representing European Art, with 45 oilpaintings of
mainly landscapes and 40 etchings at the Nancy Roach Gallery in Singapore
from 1994 until late in 1995.
Having bought her future
Atelier "Le Carroz" in St.Triphon, a village known for its
black marble quarries, the restoration of the house took years, as the
artist took care to keep the cachet of the ancient black marble plinth's
and windowsills. Not until 1980 could she move in. In the summer of
that year she joins Luis Camnitzer and David Finkbeiner from Uruguay
and New York, teaching in Lucca (Italy), in order to learn more about
the renovations added to the printing techniques by the famous atelier
17 in Paris, run by the American artist the late William Stanley Hayter,
who developed new methods of photo-etching and multi-plate aquatints,
combining a variety of original but special issues. Hayter influenced
greatly the modern etching techniques, and his pupils spread all over
Europe, Japan, South America, etc. and Switzerland to printshops like
the one in St.Prex.
In the Musée Jenisch
in Vevey, Hubertine is represented with about 80 etchings. In Lausanne,
in the Musée de l'Elysée, a choice of her most successful
multiplate colour photo-etchings, 43 prints in all can be found.
In the Museum Bommel-van
Dam in the Dutch town of Venlo 43 prints are kept.
Zurich : S.I.K. Schweizerische
Institut für Kunstwissenschaft. Publication of the Lexikon of Swiss
Art, II vol., CD-Rom, since 1999 Hubertine is included.
The french version of
the S.I.K. is called I.S.E.A. and belongs to the Lausanne University.
(Institut suisse pour l'Etude de l'Art).
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