From Kattenburg to Katwijk; Henry Willebrord Jansen (1855-1908)
Little more than a century after his death, the painter Henry Willebrord Jansen, (1855-1908), has had a solo exhibition of his work at Katwijk. Like many painters Jansen had repeatedly worked in Katwijk around 1900. Under the influence of light on the coast his work at this period is bright with fresh color. In contrast his palette from the Kattenburg, Amsterdam, work is darker.
Ships and ports fascinated Jansen. Wherever he journeyed he sought the sea whether it was Katwijk, Antwerp, Enkhuizen, Hamburg or Venice. In the summers he came to Katwijk bringing his family with him for 'dad painting' of the bomschuiten, the draft horses, the beach and the sea.
He also depicted harbour views, notably at Kattenburg, a ship-building and docland district of Amsterdam. There, his subjects ranged from the rough seaman's life in the slums to the carpenters' workshops and the wharves at Kattenburg. The great sailings ships, wich were evolving into iron-clad vessels with engines, were of great interest to him. A ship might fill a canvass, sometimes with the image sharply cut, so only the bowsprit and a visible part of the rigging was painted. Impressively rising out of the dock, Jansen told the viewer that this ship was big technical achievement. His work in Kattenburg is not romantic and his use of a limited canvass is modern in style. His painting style was impressionistic and free.
Jansen was not only active as an artist but he also played a role in the Amsterdam Artists Society and took various management positions. During his life, Jansen was a respected artist, both at home and abroad, and participated in numerous exhibitions. He received several national and international awards. Apart from those held in Dutch museums, including the Katwijk Museum works by him are in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, and the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
After his death he quickly fell into oblivion, possibly because his widow Sophie Grothe Jansen did not try to promote his work. The organisers of the exhibition, Netty de Groot and Richard Rietbergen of The Arts Foundation, completed a smaller exhibition of Jansen's oeuvre in Woerden in 1999.
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