ART CATALOGUE // Dolf Henkes and Curaçao

DOLF HENKES AND CURAÇAO

CATHY JACOB (ED.), DAVID BADE, VERELE ENGELS, ERIK HAMMERSTEIN, JAN DE HEER, 1

JULIE HENGEVELD, SANDRA SMETS, JENNIFER SMIT, TIRZO MARTHA AND NATHALIE MENKE DOLF HENKES AND CURAÇAO

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

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Minister of Education Science Culture and Sport

INTRODUCTION

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Erik Hammerstein, Cathy Jacob

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THE CULTURAL SCENERY ON CURAÇAO

IN THE 1940s AND 1950s

Verele Engels

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DOLF HENKES AND OTHER ARTIST FRIENDS OF

CHRIS ENGELS ON CURAÇAO

Julie Hengeveld

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THE ‘CURAÇAOAN’ PAINTINGS BY DOLF HENKES

Jennifer Smit

MURALS ON CURAÇAO

Sandra Smets

COMMISSIONED WORK AND EXHIBITIONS ON CURAÇAO

Jan de Heer, Nathalie Menke

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DOLF HENKES AS A ROLE MODEL

David Bade, Tirzo Martha

CHRONICLE OF AN ARTIST’S LIFE

OVERVIEW

NOTES LITERATURE

AUTHORS

PUBLICATION DETAILS AND PHOTO CREDITS

DOLF HENKES IN HIS STUDIO ON THE HARINGVLIET, ROTTERDAM c. 1950 private collection

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FOREWORD Culture forms the foundation for a community’s development. It is also a crucial cornerstone of nation building. A culture that represents unity in diversity enriches the sense of togetherness and bolsters the urge to work together towards a shared future that draws on that cultural heritage.

Our cultural heritage is hugely important for our awareness of our history and common identity. A significant contribution is made here by the heritage that is literally found ‘out on the streets’: the houses, the historic centre of Willemstad that was added to UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites on 4 December 1997, but also the artworks that are still visible, including the murals of Dolf Henkes. Cultural heritage is about our shared past, living together as a community, solidarity and durability. It is vitally important to preserve that heritage. Surroundings that display traces of the past serve as a tangible reminder of that shared past that every citizen can experience. Such surroundings also attract tourists, an important form of cultural enrichment and interaction between the diverse local and international communities.

I wholeheartedly support the policy of deciding as a society, in a way that is clear to everyone, how we should deal with our shared cultural heritage. That is why incorporating the study of art history in our education system is an essential aspect of raising awareness. We all share responsibility for our heritage, which is after all irreplaceable – what’s gone is gone forever! Our focus should therefore be on our common responsibility for preserving that heritage for current and future generations. We need to give our heritage a place in our living environment and show society how important it is. A good way of doing this is by linking our cultural heritage to various other policy areas. It needs to become an integrated part of those policies. Our shared cultural heritage has value in numerous respects, including an economic value because of the multifaceted cultural heritage landscape. An integrated view of cultural heritage is an opportunity to give an area a clear identity and incorporate it in ambitions for the future. The domain of heritage and public space is broader than simply listed buildings and archaeology. It is about the big story of our shared past as a source of identity and inspiration for the future.

In our policy, I make the case for historical cultural values. Through the role of cultural heritage in society, we highlight the importance of different identities and values within our shared worldview as a society. I am very grateful to the Henkes Foundation for taking the initiative to organise Henkes on Curaçao. This marks a start in recording our joint cultural heritage, which reflects our past, present and future.

It shows a balance between different cultural values and identities, in which diversity takes pride of place.

MS MARILYN ALCALÁ-WALLÉ MSC

Minister of Education Science Culture and Sport

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FOREWORD

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FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION It seems incredible, but the lost mural by Henkes at Hato has been found again! An unknown person on Curaçao sent us a message that apparently the mural by Henkes was still there, hidden behind a large advertising poster and a more recent painting by Alfonso Gonzalez from 1993.

This led to trips to Curaçao in 2015 and 2016, in search of the traces left by the Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes (1903 – 1989) on the tropical island. And it was true: vestiges of the central section of the mural painted in 1946 at the airport have indeed survived. Unfortunately the triptych has lost its side sections, but it is still unmistakeably a Henkes. Other traces can also be found of the artist, who set sail for Curaçao immediately after the war when invited to the island by his Rotterdam childhood friend Chris Engels. There is the mural in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital in Willemstad, and there are paintings and drawings by him in the hands of private owners and The Curaçao Museum. It also turns out that there is a lively oral history. What is more, Henkes is a known name in government circles, with five paintings hanging in the Government Building in Willemstad alongside work by Charles Eyck, another artist who spent time on Curaçao.

Dolf Henkes was a self-taught artist who had strong connections with the city of Rotterdam, where he lived in the district of Katendrecht, a small peninsula in the port area. He had his own distinctive manner and style, and refused to get carried away by the latest trends or artistic movements. After his stay on Curaçao, he moved into a studio on Haringvliet street on the right bank of the river in Rotterdam. He was an idiosyncratic artist who became part of the city, where he has left many monumental murals. But he was also attracted by life beyond Rotterdam, travelling to Curaçao, Mexico, New York and many European countries. In 1987, two years before his death in 1989, Henkes donated over 3,500 works, his archive, and the copyright to his work to the Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, the forerunner of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. His modest estate and that of his brother Jan and sister Marie

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formed the basis for a fund managed by Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands and the other by Dolf Henkes Foundation fund. These funds finance the biennial Dolf Henkes Prize named after him.

Our visits in 2015 and 2016 formed the basis for Henkes on Curaçao, a major art project to honour Dolf Henkes.

Various parties were involved in the plans; their input has resulted in exhibitions in The Curaçao Museum, the IBB (Instituto Buena Bista) and the Curaçao Maritime Museum, an exhibition catalogue (this book), guided tours around the island and an educational project for secondary schools on Curaçao and Bonaire.

In this catalogue, you will find information in CHAPTER 1 about the cultural scenery into which Henkes came on the island in the 1940s and 1950s.

CHAPTER 2 discusses other artists who travelled to Curaçao in that period. CHAPTER 3 reflects on the works Henkes produced on Curaçao, and CHAPTER 4 deals with the impact the ‘visiting artists’ have had down to this very day. The book concludes with a brief biography and an overview of the work Henkes produced on Curaçao.

The conclusion we can draw is not new but bears repeating, namely the importance of paying attention to a community’s cultural history and the significant role played here by artists. In their work, they reflect on life and their surroundings. Henkes is an example of this: he pays homage to the island and its community by capturing impressions in his work. To do this, Henkes developed his own iconography, as Chapter 3 shows, in which he managed to translate the long-standing archetypal characteristics of the island into a modern visual imagery. Many other artists did the same, both

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MURAL IN THE CHAPEL OF THE SINT ELISABETH HOSPITAL, CURAÇAO, 1977

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before and after him. This important function of art is something to be cherished.

This project would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of many people, both on Curaçao and in the Netherlands. We are particularly grateful to Rien te Hennepe, the ‘unknown person’ who rediscovered the mural at Hato and got the ball rolling. Thanks too to Verele Engels, Julie Hengeveld and Jennifer Smit, who formed a warm welcome committee for us when we first visited Curaçao and who showed us around right up to the end of the project. We would also like to thank David Bade and Tirzo Martha, who recognised immediately that Dolf Henkes had been a significant visiting artist to the island, The Curaçao Museum, with manager Judaline Cyntje and chair Sanne van Dullemen, Curaçao Maritime Museum with director Thamara Moreno Vervuurt and Mimoun Himmit and Marieke Knol of Fundashon Plataforma Kultural on Bonaire, who developed the educational project. Lastly, thanks to our partner, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, which administers the estate of Dolf Henkes. We are deeply indebted to them for their generous loans policy and for their enthusiasm and expertise which has ensured the success of this remarkable project.

Let Henkes on Curaçao be a plea to take care of our cultural heritage. In this regard, we call for conservation work on the mural in the chapel attached to the Sint Elisabeth Hospital; at present, the painting is still visible but everyone can see that it is deteriorating. Who will take on responsibility for its careful conservation?

As a final message, we at the Henkes Foundation want to draw attention to this.

ERIK HAMMERSTEIN (CHAIR) CATHY JACOB

Henkes Foundation

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INTRODUCTION

THE CULTURAL SCENERY ON CURAÇAO IN THE 1940s AND 1950s 1

VERELE ENGELS

To see the special position Dolf Henkes (Rotterdam 1903 – 1989) occupies in Curaçaoan art history of the 1940s and 1950s, we first need to take a step back in time and consider the main events that led up to his arrival in Curaçao.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Curaçao’s cultural heritage was recorded by Felix Robert Casper Soublette (1846 – 1921) and his son Robert Joseph (‘Tito’) (1870 – 1938) using the relatively new medium of photography.

They did not just take portrait photos; they also photographed the busy area around the Sint Anna Bay where steamships unloaded their cargo onto the quays.

The Soublettes photographed rural areas as well as the city, the kunuku (rural areas) with their plantation houses, huts and bays.

The author, painter and sculptor John de Pool (Curaçao 1863 – Panama 1947) also sought to capture his surroundings, but by using different methods. In his memoirs Del Curaçao que se va (Of the Curaçao that is passing), he describes the island as it was before 1935.

In painting, there were two distinct groups in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the upperclass artists who had studied at an academy and the self-taught painters who had been shaped by drawing lessons at Catholic institutions. The first group included Cornelis Gorsira (1848 – 1924) and the composer Charles Maduro (1884 – 1947). The second group included Johnny J. Ecker Jnr (1884 – 19**). Like Ecker, Jozef Cornelis (Nechi) Pieters (1898 – 1960) and Willem Kroon (1886 – 1949) mainly painted classic impressionistic works using traditional Western perspective.

The arrival of Shell in 1915 brought radical changes to Curaçaoan society, with a shift from agriculture to industry. The pace of economic and social change increased. The local supply of labour was insufficient

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so labour migrants arrived in Curaçao. The population shot up. Various Shell employees took up painting, often in order to produce a leaving present for workers returning to the Netherlands. These paintings were mainly rural and urban scenes. One of the best known artists in this group is Michiel (‘Giel’) Hagedoorn from Rotterdam (1911 – 1988), whose work still hangs on the walls of many Curaçaoan houses.

In 1936, Chris Engels (Rotterdam 1907 – Curaçao 1980) and his wife Barbara arrived on Curaçao; he was the first Dutch Catholic physician to be sent to the island, at the request of Monsignor P.J.H. Verriet1. One year later, he returned to Rotterdam completely distraught with the embalmed corpse of his dead wife. Henkes’ portrait of Barbara – which Engels thought was not a good likeness – prompted Engels to try and paint her portrait himself after he returned to Curaçao. He thought that if he only closed his eyes, he would be able to draw her quite accurately – was unable to. He then tried a self-portrait, which was a success and has been in the possession of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam for a number of years.

This marked the start of Engels’ exceptional career as a painter and trailblazer in the field of art and literature.

Dolf Henkes was friends with Chris Engels his whole life. Both were born in Rotterdam, they were Catholic and were socially engaged. When Henkes had his first exhibition in the Stella Maris Seaman’s House on Katendrecht in 1931, Engels performed the opening.

DOLF HENKES AND CURAÇAO

EX LIBRIS DR. CR. ENGELS, c. 1945 private collection

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR EXHIBITION AT THE GOUVERNEMENTS BOEKERIJ IN WILLEMSTAD, 1945 private collection

COVER OF DE STOEP NO III 1, 1949 Printing ink on paper, 27.4 x 21.2 cm private collection

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The special friendship with its mutual understanding and respect was a determining factor in the lives of both Henkes and Engels, both as individuals and as a pair.

In 1941, Engels actually received a letter from Henkes.

Engels replied asking Henkes to come to Curaçao and suggested the possibility of a commission for a major work in the hospital. Shortly after the Netherlands was liberated from German occupation in May 1945, Henkes wrote that he was coming. Engels sent a reply saying Henkes should bring some artworks so he could organise an exhibition for him.

In 1939, Engels married Lucila Boskaljon, the daughter of Rudolph Boskaljon who founded the Curaçao Philharmonic Orchestra. Throughout the Second World War, various artists and writers would gather every week in Chris and Lucila Engels’ studio at the Molenplein, a square in the Otrobanda district of Willemstad to discuss one another’s work. Regular guests included Shon May Henriquez-Alvares Correa, Charles Corsen, Ben Smit, Ru Jas and the writer Tip Marugg. These gatherings signalled the arrival of modern art in Curaçao.

Henkes arrived in Curaçao in November 1945 and stayed there until April 1947 as a guest of Chris and Lucila Engels. He did indeed get the exhibition he was promised and also created two large murals as commissions. He sold a lot of his work, produced new paintings while on the island and published articles in Engels’ magazine De Stoep.² These were all expressions of the cross-fertilisation there had always been between Henkes the painter and Engels the poet.

Was Dolf Henkes there on New Year’s Eve 1945 when Chris Engels, waiting for the bishop to give his blessing on Brionplein, said to his father-in-law that too much was being lost and it was high time the island had a museum? It is easy to imagine Henkes having some input and helping plant the idea for an art museum.

In April 1947, Henkes travelled to Mexico for an exhibition, returning afterwards to Katendrecht in Rotterdam. His trip to Curaçao and Mexico had a lasting impact on his art and he undoubtedly left an exceptional, tangible legacy on Curaçao.

1. Petrus Joannes Hubertus Verriet O.P. (1880 – 1948) was vicar apostolic on Curaçao and titular bishop of Eleutherna up to his death.

2. De Stoep was a literary magazine that ran from 1940 to May 1951.

It was published in Willemstad, Curaçao. The chief editors from the first issues on were F.J. van der Molen and Luc Tournier. Luc Tournier, which was Chris Engels’ pseudonym, was the constant factor and driving force behind the magazine.

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CHAPTER 1

DOLF HENKES AND OTHER ARTIST FRIENDS OF CHRIS ENGELS ON CURAÇAO

JULIE HENGEVELD

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In 1945, Dolf Henkes obtained a ‘long and fervently desired’ commission through the offices of his old friend Chris Engels from Rotterdam: to paint murals in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital on Curaçao.

Two years later, Chris Engels and his wife Lucila Engels-Boskaljon (1920 – 1993) travelled to Europe ‘as a postilion and cherchant l’amour’. They met Willem ‘Wil’ Sandberg (1897 – 1984), director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, with whom they discussed what form the new Curaçao Museum should take and what it should house. A warm friendship developed with Sandberg, who brought Engels into contact with artists and key international cultural players who could enable exhibitions on Curaçao.1 At about the same time that the Curaçao Museum opened in Willemstad in 1948, the Foundation for Cultural Cooperation between The Netherlands, Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles (STICUSA) was set up in Amsterdam. The Foundation not only organised and funded travelling exhibitions that went on show at The Curaçao Museum and Curaçao Cultural Centre, it also arranged for artists to visit the island. The guest artists were nominated by Chris Engels, often after being proposed by Sandberg, and then invited by STICUSA, which took charge of the funding. Incidentally, Dolf Henkes paid his own way for his trip to Curaçao.

The first Dutch artist to visit the island after Dolf Henkes was the architect and furniture maker Gerrit Rietveld (1888 – 1964), who also became friends with Engels. Rietveld spent three weeks there in 1949.

His stay resulted in a commission for the Mgr. Verriet Institute, a home for disabled children, and a ‘friendship that grew over time’.2 Engels and Rietveld exchanged portraits3 as a ‘token of a mutual expression of sympathy

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and respect’.4 The developing understanding can also be seen in how Engels addressed Rietveld in his letters, starting with ‘Dear Mr Rietveld’ and ending up as ‘Dear old Riet’.5 Engels himself said in the publication Luc Tournier 70. Portretten en ontmoetingen (Luc Tournier 70. Portraits and encounters) that ‘Riet and I are kindred spirits’.6 In the winter of 1951 to 1952, Frieda Hunziker (1908 – 1966) spent several weeks on Curaçao. She stayed in the ‘garden hut’ in the grounds of The Curaçao Museum in Willemstad.7 She produced numerous drawings and watercolours that she later turned into paintings. According to Engels, she worked liked crazy.8 She produced a design for a stained glass window at the request of Chris Engels and his wife. Hunziker had exclaimed that she had never had a commission like this before, to which Engels replied that this was not his fault, but everything Hunziker had done on paper deserved to shine in the form of stained glass.

The stained glass window was manufactured in the Netherlands, after which Sandberg had it installed in a wall at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam ‘for the reception of the press’. It was later transported to Curaçao. Hunziker also produced murals for the Engels family in their home Stroomzigt.9 The works by Hunziker that were inspired by her trip to Curaçao were exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1952. Of her stay on the island, where she also met the artist Charles Eyck, it was said that the impressions from ‘those few days’ were still ‘echoing

DOLF HENKES AND CURAÇAO

FRIEDA HUNZIKER WITH DANCER WONCHO ON CURAÇAO, 1951 – 1952 private collection

CHARLES EYCK WORKING ON THE WORKERS’ PANEL, 1952 – 1953 private collection

PORTRAIT OF GERRIT RIETVELD

BY CHRIS ENGELS oil on canvas, 50 x 62,5 cm private collection

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everywhere in her work’ even four years later.10 The visits of both artists were funded by STICUSA. Sandberg had also introduced Engels to the artist Charles Eyck (1897 – 1983). In 1952, Engels wrote to Rietveld saying that Eyck would also be on Curaçao when Rietveld arrived on the island for a second visit.

At the end of that year, Eyck came to the island for a year, staying in the same ‘garden hut’ that Hunziker had lived in. He received numerous commissions for paintings, tiled panels, stained glass windows and mosaics. He donated a pietà to Engels for the private chapel of his in-laws, the Engels-Boskaljon family, near the Daniel plantation house. Eyck became friendly with the poet Oda Blinder, the pseudonym of Yolanda Corsen (1918 – 1969). He drew her portrait frequently. According to Engels, his portraits show ‘how much he was affected by her appearance’. There is a persistent rumour that the two were romantically involved. In 1977, Eyck wrote to Chris Engels that he was still grateful for the rich experience and generous ‘hospitality’ of Engels and his wife. He hoped he would be able to visit Curaçao again, ‘where my heart has drifted to so often [...] to thank Chris for all that he gave me.’11 The three artists Henkes, Hunziker and Eyck drew lasting inspiration from Curaçaoan subjects. In 1953, they met one another in the Netherlands, in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, which was showing the exhibition Curaçao, Painting and Painted. It was said of the series of paintings and ceramics by Charles Eyck that the trip must have been such a strong source of ‘aspirations’ that ‘the old Eyck was hardly recognisable any more’.

Eight works by Frieda Hunziker were on display with titles such as Jellyfish and Fly and Sun, Houses, Boats and Cacti. In this exhibition Dolf Henkes presented nine works inspired by Curaçao, with titles including Cactus, Patio and Rif Swimming Pool. The Dutch artists’ visits to Curaçao had ‘only [...] reinforced the links with the Antilles.’12

HENKES AND COLLEAGUES IN THE CHAPEL AND THE ANNA PAVILION OF THE SINT ELISABETH HOSPITAL

Dolf Henkes was not the only artist who contributed to the decorative scheme of the new chapel at the Sint Elisabeth Hospital. The hospital administration commissioned Joep Nicolas (1897 – 1972) to make fourteen paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross and Lou Asperslagh (1893 – 1949) to design stained-glass windows depicting patron saints of healing.

In 1956, as part of the extension of the Anna Pavilion, a ward for women and children, Henkes’ colleague and neighbour Wally Elenbaas (1912 – 2008) designed a monumental mosaic on the exterior depicting Saint Francis with Lepers.

1. Hengeveld/Engels 2018, p. 18; p. 22.

2. De Heer 2011, p. 13.

3. This includes ‘a sketchy portrait of Chris Engels in Curaçao done in an architectural style’ by Rietveld. De Heer, p. 17.

4. De Heer 2011, p. 13.

5. De Heer 2011, p. 18.

6. Sandberg 1977, p. 44.

7. Huiskamp 2017. A toilet and shower was installed especially for the artists staying there such as Frieda Hunziker and Charles Eyck.

8. Sandberg 1977, p. 80.

9. Sandberg 1977, p. 91.

10. Amigoe, September 8, 1956.

11. Sandberg 1977, p. 66.

12. Algemeen Handelsblad, October 3, 1955.

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CHAPTER 2

THE ‘CURAÇAOAN’ PAINTINGS

BY DOLF HENKES 3

JENNIFER SMIT

FROM A DUTCH PENINSULA TO A TROPICAL ISLAND Like every visitor before him and every tourist after him, Dolf Henkes must have had that experience of the pulsating heat, overwhelming riot of colours and piercing bright light when he arrived on the island of Curaçao. On the peninsula of Katendrecht in south Rotterdam, Henkes had helped Jews during the Second World War. Now, a few months after the Hunger Winter and the liberation of the Netherlands, he boarded a ship and left his own devastated city. Although he would have been able to gradually adapt to the rising temperatures during the crossing, which lasted several days, a greater contrast is barely imaginable between the drizzly, bombarded city of his birth and the tropical, sun-drenched, undamaged island. Not only was the meteorological climate warmer, the atmosphere was obviously more relaxed on Curaçao in the autumn of 1945 than in Katendrecht.

Chris Engels, his childhood friend from Rotterdam, had invited him to the island. So one Rotterdammer asked the other to embark on the long crossing. Engels the visitor remained while Henkes the visitor returned to Rotterdam, but now with Curaçao in his heart and in his head.

On Curaçao, Henkes the artist is mainly known for his murals in the restaurant and departure lounge of Hato airport and in the chapel of Sint Elisabeth Hospital (SEHOS). But there is much more of exceptional value to be discovered in Henkes’ autonomous work referring to Curaçao. The Rotterdam artist grasped the island and managed to capture its characteristic aspects in an authentic manner. In doing so, Henkes gave an unmistakeably personal interpretation of Curaçao’s iconography. A description and analysis are given below of a selection from the group of ‘Curaçaoan’ paintings. Henkes produced them not just during his two periods of residence on the island (1945 – 1947 and 1977 – 1978) but also when he was back in Rotterdam. Because Henkes never forgot Curaçao.

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One of the most striking paintings Henkes produced during his first visit to the island is Curaçao – The Rif from 1946 [1]. A bandstand looms up vaguely in the distance as in a dream. In the foreground is an empty plain like a hallucinatory abandoned landscape. The title tells us this is the Rif in the urban district of Otrobanda. There may never have been a bandstand on this desolate, barren strip of rock on the south side of the island but there was one – up until 1961 – in the busy Brion square, situated in the middle of the district. You could see the painting with the bandstand enveloped in mist in the middle as a homage to Curaçaoan culture.1 Henkes would go on to use this composition, which suggests a kind of vista, on numerous occasions [3].

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1 CURAÇAO - THE RIF 1946 oil on panel, 63 x 77 cm RCE

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Back in Rotterdam, Henkes painted the grainy picture Curaçao, White Donkey [2] in 1953. This painting probably also depicts the Rif. That strip of rock had made a deep impression. This is not a vista composition as in the previous artwork. In this predominantly blue, hazy painting, the white donkey has an almost mythological connotation. It is a mysterious painting, with a sea mist that does not occur on the island. It is like a vision in a dream. This donkey is not in its usual habitat. At that time donkeys were used as a beast of burden but you would rarely see a donkey in the wild. This painting could perhaps be seen as a counterpart to Curaçao – The Rif [1], a homage to the island’s fauna whereas the other work pays homage to its culture. In these two paintings – The Rif and White Donkey – Henkes gives a very personal take on the traditional image of the island, thereby creating his own iconography of Curaçao in his visual language.

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2 CURAÇAO, WHITE DONKEY 1953 oil on canvas, 52 x 72 cm RCE

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The painting Westpunt – Curaçao from 1947 [3] has the same composition as Curaçao – The Rif [1] produced one year earlier. Here, the frame is formed by sections of soberly painted walls of houses on the left and right, rather than by block shapes as is the case in Curaçao – The Rif. A terrace is depicted between two houses, and a kind of segment of a blurred panorama rising up behind, with a mountain sketched in. This is probably the Christoffelberg, a landmark on the western side of the island. The scene as a whole is devoid of people and desolate. The sharp shadow of the house on the right can be seen on the terrace but even the traditional rocking chair is missing.

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3 WESTPUNT – CURAÇAO 1947 oil on canvas, 56 x 71.5 cm RCE

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Cactus on Curaçao from 1948 [4] is one of the most impressive paintings in which Henkes conveyed the island’s distinctive character. The elegant cactus rising forcefully in the foreground, which has been depicted very two-dimensionally in muted greens, becomes a symbol for the island in Henkes’ work.2 This columnar cactus, or kadushi, grows all over the place in the kunuku (rural areas) and dominates the horizon. It is also used in many different local dishes. Henkes has made the cactus more abstract in his painting, a tall, elegant object without thorns, although in reality most of the surface is covered in such thorns. This cactus is a metaphor for the island: permanently growing whether or not rain has fallen.

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4 CACTUS ON CURAÇAO 1948 oil on canvas, 72 x 62 cm RCE

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Large, separate black blocks are prominent in the two paintings Swimming Pool – Curaçao from 1948 [5] and 1953 [6], depicting an open-air swimming pool on the island. This is probably the pool on the Rif, where many a Curaçaoan learnt to swim. The pool was demolished several decades ago but it was still an impressive sight when Henkes first visited the island. The two paintings Henkes produced on this theme both have the same distinctive play with shapes. The compositions are tight and conceived in terms of geometric shapes. A limited range of colours is used, with greys dominating.

There are no figures and the scene feels desolate. Both scenes are depicted from the same point of view. They seem somewhat like two film stills, where the camera has zoomed in on one more than on the other. They exude a surrealist atmosphere, as in a dream that appears very real to you.

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5 SWIMMING POOL – CURAÇAO 1948 oil on canvas, glued onto panel, 50 x 60.5 cm RCE

6 SWIMMING POOL – CURAÇAO 1953 oil on panel, 59 x 74 cm RCE

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The painting Sea at Curaçao from 1947 [7] is quite different in character.

The subject here is the overpowering sea, which has been given a literally picturesque treatment. This is to some extent another vista composition, a favourite motif of Henkes. In the foreground on the right is a large, vertical block. Next to it, the sea stretches out into the distance with the bank of clouds painted above. The red, accentuated mass of clouds give this painting a particularly dramatic atmosphere. The range of colours is greater than in most of his paintings and the painting technique is strikingly impasto.

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7 SEA AT CURAÇAO 1947 oil on canvas, 44.5 x 53.5 cm RCE

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Henkes must have been fascinated by donkeys. Greenish shades and browns dominate in a kind of ‘still life’ with donkeys from 1947 entitled Donkeys – Curaçao [8]. As in the previous painting, he has applied the paint in thick layers. A clump of vegetation is visible in the foreground to the right.

The painting depicts the island’s flora and fauna together. It is as if there is a harmonious transition from one to the other, whereby they live in unity with one another.

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8 DONKEYS – CURAÇAO 1947 oil on canvas, glued onto panel, 92 x 58 cm RCE

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Henkes did not just have an eye for nature on the island but also for its people. This encompassed all sections of Curaçaoan society. In Curaçao – Evening Mood, which Henkes painted in the early 1950s when back in the city of his birth [9], he depicts two small, characteristic Curaçaoan cottages of the type that the poor people on the island live in. Henkes had clearly made a mental and emotional note of such cottages. In his painting, they are in a strange kind of wood with trees that certainly do not look like the ones on Curaçao. A strange ambience has been created in this painting as in a vision, with the effect enhanced by the lack of human figures.

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9 CURAÇAO – EVENING MOOD c. 1950 oil on panel, 41 x 47 cm RCE

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A portrait from 1946 [10] shows a young man such as you might have seen in the street. The lad is cheerful and gazes at the viewer with a self-assured and interested look. It is a lively portrait, painted with flamboyant brushstrokes. The range of colours is restricted.

Striking features are the boy’s orangish red lips and the way the brim of the hat is echoed in the eyebrows.

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10 BOY – CURAÇAO 1946 oil on panel, 44 x 39 cm RCE

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Many of the paintings discussed here that Henkes produced of Curaçao in the 1940s and 1950s have a desolate atmosphere. They have no human figures at all. That remained the case in the latter part of the 1970s. One of the exceptions is the painting Terrace – Curaçao from 1977 [11]. A cheerfullooking man wearing a cap is sitting next to two chairs. Between the two chairs is a small table with a flowering plant on it. The scene looks inviting.

There is a hat on one of the chairs. On the far right, part of the facade of a house can be seen and in the background a mountain. The colours in this painting are remarkably vivid and bright compared with the other works that have been discussed here.

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11 TERRACE – CURAÇAO 1977 oil on panel, 52 x 80.5 cm RCE

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The city district of Pietermaai, which dates back to the eighteenth century, has been depicted from an unusual viewpoint and in a strikingly tight style in the painting Pieter Mai – Curaçao from 1978 [12]. This district is on the south coast, right next to the sea. Two old neck gables can be seen on the left. A high terracotta wall has been erected in front, separating the houses from the hard, rough coral rock in the foreground. This is a realistic depiction of the actual situation, as the buildings are indeed right next to the Caribbean.

The ship that is so close to the coast is less realistic, because there the water is too rough and far too shallow for shipping. A flag in the colours of Venezuela adorns the stern.

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12 PIETER MAI – CURAÇAO 1978 oil on panel, 32 x 78.5 cm RCE

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Curaçao is the title of a 1984 painting of an inner courtyard [13] surrounded by characteristic Curaçaoan buildings. They form ‘fragments’ as it were of houses that have been placed seemingly in a random pattern. The scene is reminiscent of the labyrinthine eighteenth-century district of Otrobanda.

The facades and walls are predominantly yellow. A tree can be seen in the foreground in the middle. It seems that when Henkes was working in Rotterdam in the mid-1980s, he still had a clear picture of the distinctive appearance of that Curaçaoan district. There are no people in the painting and the scene appears deserted.

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13 CURAÇAO 1984 oil on panel, 52 x 40.5 cm RCE

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Finally, there is the portrait of Chris Engels [14]. It is not certain whether Henkes himself created this portrait of his flamboyant friend; it is also possible that this is a self-portrait by Engels which Henkes altered at a later date, on June 29, 1958. The caption and date added by Henkes point to this conclusion. Whatever the case may be, the portrait illustrates the close friendship between the two Rotterdam men. This expressive depiction of ‘Kris Engels’ reflects his passionate nature and shows a particularly bold use of colour.

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14 CHRIS ENGELS 1958 oil, pencil, ink on paper, 19,5 x 29,5 cm RCE

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PERSONAL CURAÇAOAN ICONOGRAPHY Having discussed the somewhat arbitrary group of ‘Curaçaoan’ paintings by ‘this surrealist tightrope walker’ , it is clear that the Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes portrayed the island in a very personal way. His hallucinatory donkeys, surrealist swimming pools and visionlike bandstand unmistakably bear Henkes’ personal stamp. The same applies to his disorienting Curaçaoan terraces and houses and his own interpretation of Pietermaai, while he transformed the local cactus into a proud, abstract symbol of the island. Henkes cannot be fitted into any particular art movement. In the early 1960s, an article about this Rotterdam artist in a Curaçaoan newspaper correctly noted that it ‘is difficult to pigeonhole him and add a label with some kind of -ism’. Indeed, Henkes goes beyond the customary representation of Curaçao. He has conceived his own original iconography by taking the age-old archetypal features of the island and presenting them using modern imagery in an authentic approach.

1. This bandstand was built in 1937 to commemorate the Curaçaoan composer, conductor and bandmaster Johannes Boskaljon (1863 – 1936), a relative of Chris Engels’ wife.

2. This work was on display at the important exhibition Curaçao, Painting and Painted in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1953.

3. Cola Debrot, ‘Een voorgoed begonnen begin ofwel een Curaçaose tentoonstelling in Nederland’ (1954), Verzameld werk, vol. 1, Over Antilliaanse cultuur, Amsterdam 1985, pp. 227-232 (p. 231).

4. Beurs- en Nieuwsberichten, April 6, 1961.

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DOLF HENKES IN HIS STUDIO ON THE HARINGVLIET, ROTTERDAM, c. 1950 private collection

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DETAIL OF REDISCOVERED MURAL IN THE MAIN HALL OF THE TERMINAL BUILDING AT HATO AIRPORT, 1946

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MURALS ON CURAÇAO

SANDRA SMETS

‘Dolf Henkes opens up the Heavens,’ was the headline in the Amigoe newspaper on 3 June 1946. ‘Open, soft and delicate,’ was how the author Father Möhlmann described the mural that had just been completed in the intimate chapel attached to the Sint Elisabeth Hospital in Willemstad. The previously blank walls had now been painted with an altarpiece showing the Holy Trinity surrounded by saints. Henkes incorporated a wooden crucifix that was already hanging there into the mural. He framed it with God and the Holy Spirit, who spread across the chapel’s architectural features in a heavenly vision with clouds in gentle pastel colours and delicate angels.1,2 He ingeniously merged the challenging Gothic arches into the painted clouds and kept one arch as an architectural element that he painted a soft yellow: a golden heavenly bridge that he had angels climbing.

Yet Möhlmann’s article also mentions less flattering comments by visitors: ‘I know Our Lord mixed with all sorts but knowing those deficiencies stay with them when they reach Heaven reduces my enthusiasm for the Hereafter considerably’.

It was Henkes’ idiosyncratic lyricism that shocked people. Rather than depicting straightforward Bible stories, he used his capricious style of drawing to capture childhood memories of the tales of the saints in shimmering visions, as if the heavenly has become manifest in our physical world – making grateful use of the tangible crucifix. The mural therefore became more of a personal spiritual journey than a Biblical account, which was in line with his own beliefs as someone who was Catholic but anticlerical.3 He spent about six months working on the chapel.

It was followed by a second commission, for the terminal building at Hato airport: from the stillness of a religious setting to the busy airport. Above the entrance to the departure lounge, Henkes painted the island of Curaçao in an almost abstract composition in various marine tints, magnified as if it were the centre of the world surrounded by the coastline of America. Next to the stairs, he depicted the interactions between Curaçao

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and the Netherlands in a rhythmic representation that could be read whether you were walking up or down the stairs. He continued with this dynamic in a painting in the restaurant: he linked a pianist sat at a grand piano via a tightrope walker, leaning against a real door, with a dancer on a globe pointing towards a chef hovering above a jazz orchestra with people dancing. From left to right and moving upside down, it was a Cubist-inspired ode to life in sparkling colours. But these works too met with opposition, and after protests the murals were partly painted over with white in 1955. However, the island mural is now visible again after having been hidden behind temporary wall cladding. The mural next to the stairs has also been rediscovered as it was etched into the cement.4 Murals tend to have a limited lifespan but Henkes liked painting them. ‘A painting is just for one person but a wall is for everyone.’5 Back in Rotterdam, Henkes used the experience he had acquired in new commissions as part of the reconstruction of the city, which had been devastated by the war. He produced major murals for the Rotterdam Ahoy event, the Dijkzigt Hospital, the temporary theatre (with a Curaçaoan production), schools and factories. When he returned to Curaçao in 1977, he was shocked by the state of the Sint Elisabeth chapel.

He left the dilapidated cross out of the new mural he painted behind the altar, this time with the Resurrection.

Once again, he took the light on Curaçao to his heart and returned with it to Rotterdam.6,7, 8 1. O.P., M. Möhlmann ‘Dolf Henkes doet de Hemel open’, Amigoe p. 3, June 3, 1946.

2. E. Winters, ‘Moderne Nederlandse kunst in Curaçao’, Amigoe p. 2, January 16, 1947.

3. Bouma/van de Laar/Vroegindeweij 2003, pp. 73-75, pp. 82-85 4. R. te Hennepe, ‘Dolf Henkes wandschildering onthuld’, AD wikènt pp. 18-19, September 12, 2015.

5. Van Burkom/Spoelstra/Vermaat 2013, pp.143-144, Rotterdam 2013.

6. De Groot 1988.

7. M. van der Dus, ‘Dolf Henkes restaureert wandschilderingen’, Amigoe p. 9, October 11, 1977.

8. B. Schmidt, ‘Dolf Henkes’ vitale baggermolen draait maar door’,

Het Vrije Volk p. 25, December 1, 1973.

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DETAILS OF THE MURALS IN THE CHAPEL OF THE SINT ELISABETH HOSPITAL, CURAÇAO, 1946

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DETAILS OF MURAL IN THE TERMINAL BUILDING, HATO AIRPORT, CURAÇAO 1946

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1 ANNOUNCEMENT FOR HENKES’ EXHIBITION AT THE GOUVERNEMENTS BOEKERIJ, 1945 printing ink on paper, 12 x 16 cm RCE

2 COVER OF DE STOEP NO II 7, 1946 printing ink on paper, 27.4 x 21.2 cm private collection

3 PORTRAIT GOUVERNEUR P. KASTEEL oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm private collection

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COMMISSIONED WORK AND EXHIBITIONS ON CURAÇAO

JAN DE HEER, NATHALIE MENKE

DECEMBER 1945

Design for three advertising postcards announcing the Henkes exhibition in the Gouvernements Boekerij (government library). [1] 23 DECEMBER 1945

Opening of the exhibition in the showroom of the Department of Education and Development (Gouvernements Boekerij) in Willemstad by Chris Engels and his father-in-law Rudolph Boskaljon.

JUNE 1946

Completion of the murals in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital in Willemstad.

AUGUST 1946

Cover design for the literary magazine De Stoep, no. II 7. [2] NOVEMBER 1946

Design for advertising card announcing event put on by Babs and Ton Smeets on 13 November 1946.

1946 – 1947

Commissioned pendant portraits of the governor Piet Kasteel and his wife Ria Kasteel-Baltussen. [3] 1946 – 1947

Commissioned portrait of Father H.M. Hulsman, rector of the Sint Elizabeth Hospital, Willemstad.

MARCH 1947

Completion of the murals in the terminal building at Hato airport.

1946 – 1947

Design for the colour combinations and consultancy on the finishing of the interior in the Catholic Seaman’s House Stella Maris, Willemstad.

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MARCH 1947

Publication of the article ‘Picasso’ in the literary magazine De Stoep, no. II 8, pp. 37-39.

JULY 1949

Cover design for the literary magazine De Stoep, no. III 1.

JULY 1950

Opening of the group exhibition Contemporary Rotterdam Artists and Graphic Artists in The Curaçao Museum, Willemstad. The exhibited works include La Mer and Midsummer Night’s Dream by Dolf Henkes.

1955

Design for five illustrations for the book commemorating a century of care at the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis in Curaçao, 1855 – 1955. Stenen getuigen van honderd jaar Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis (Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis), Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, pp. 1, 5, 6, 60 and 81.

8 APRIL 1961

Opening of solo exhibition in Galerie de Boog, Plaza Piar, Willemstad.

The exhibited works include the preliminary study for the mural in Dijkzigt Hospital in Rotterdam.

NOVEMBER 1973

Anniversary exhibition 25 Years of Curaçaoan Art in The Curaçao Museum.

The exhibited works include the pen and ink drawing Old Woman from Habaai by Henkes.

1977

Three-month-long restoration and modification of the murals in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital in Willemstad.

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DOLF HENKES AS A ROLE MODEL DAVID BADE, TIRZO MARTHA

It is a platitude to say that people come and go. The only thing that is not abstract about time is that it inexorably passes. That is why chroniclers and story tellers find it so important to catch hold of time, to record what happened and thus give contemporaries and posterity insights and interpretations concerning the past. Artists do that with imagination and an expressiveness that touches the soul (how romantic, and at times even painful) and thus in many regards extends further than historical, journalistic or factual accounts; in the best cases they turn out to be prescient and ahead of their time. Of course we need the reviewers for explanation, documentation, elaboration and reflection. This does however require patience and genuine interest, and you need to take your time for this. Otherwise, everything continues to fly past and fade into meaningless superficialities. The relatively young contemporary society of Curaçao, with the specific scenery of its history and modern-day circumstances, desperately needs stimulating stories and artistic reflections so that it can set its course and give further shape to its identity and national consciousness.

That was why it did not take us long to respond when we were invited to take part in the Dolf Henkes project on Curaçao. We both knew the murals on the island and we also remembered the Dolf Henkes Prize, the award aimed at encouraging young Rotterdam artists.

As we investigated further and took a closer look at Henkes’ oeuvre, read about him and visited the depot of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, our enthusiasm grew. This guy was a real creator and you can sense his spontaneous urge to record the spirit of his times and his surroundings in every work. In All You Can Art 2 in 2017 in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, we had already exhibited the very appropriate painting Mental Patient – Curaçao from 1988 [1] as one of the many transparent threads connecting the present to the past – for IBB (Instituto Buena Bista) is based in two former pavilions of the psychiatric institution Capriles in Willemstad.

Shortly after the Second World War, Henkes embarked on the long journey to ‘the West’ by sea. In the 1970s, he would return there again, this time by plane. The initial invitation and his pre-existing friendship with Chris Engels gave him confidence in the venture, which did

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indeed have a big impact. Even so, a trip to that small island was a different matter back then compared with now, when interns, tourists, pirates and adventurers fly in on a daily basis to attest to their tropical, exotic preoccupations. Henkes was one of a steady stream of ‘visiting artists’, mainly from the far-off Netherlands, who caused a stir and enriched and broadened the frame of reference for art at that time. An island will always be an island, with the specific features of small scale and isolation that result in very idiosyncratic realities and mentalities, even in our modern-day world with so many more technological and communicative resources.

The urge and need back then to broaden the understanding and views of art and society and to ensure high quality input and output is in fact quite similar to what IBB is aiming for and achieving with its AIR (Artist in Residence) programme. Like Dolf Henkes, today’s ‘visiting artists’ are also important for the island. They set examples, give inspiration, ask questions and sometimes break taboos. They offer a different perspective that we had not noticed before with their fresh, open-minded take on things, or even when they adopt an approach full of preconceptions. New views, ‘buena bista’s’ and

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1 PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS – CURAÇAO 1988 oil on canvas 82.5 x 72.7 cm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

2 GALLEY OVERVIEWS OF EXHIBITION IN GALLERY ESMERALDA, IBB, CURAÇAO, 2018

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horizons that – as in Henkes’ day – may not always be appreciated or valued but fortunately can be permanently displayed by IBB and stored so that they can get the reflection and reception they deserve at a later date [2].

We commit ourselves – sometimes against all the odds – not just to preserving this older heritage but in particular to developing and supporting contemporary heritage, both on Curaçao and beyond. A key element involves giving the new generation of talented, creative Curaçaoans an opportunity and a basis so that they can go on to form the critically minded intelligentsia that this island so desperately needs. We hope the ‘Henkes on Curaçao’ project will not just be about showing the works of Dolf Henkes and our pupils but that it will also deepen understanding of the other developments in fine art that were already in progress on the island back then but that are less well known or have received little attention. Certainly in the 1960s and 1970s, there were a number of local artists at work who often do not get a mention yet were incredibly important for the development of art and culture on the island, contributing to the foundation of the Academia di Arte Korsou (1969 – 2002), where people could attend courses in painting, drawing, sculpture and ceramics.

The themes in Henkes’ work, such as homosexuality, war, religion and everyday life, invariably go hand in hand with such a powerful universal humanity that they can easily serve as inspiration and something to identify with. As is the case for modern-day visitors and artists in residence, his imagination brings people together and broadens the range of options, points of reference and notion of what art can mean and do.

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IBB Instituto Buena Bista, the Curaçao Center for Contemporary Art (IBB), was founded in 2006 as an artists’ initiative with the aim of creating a solid platform for art and education. The two founders, David Bade and Tirzo Martha, are still responsible for the day-to-day management of the institute. IBB’s core business is discovering and developing talent in tailored education and training programmes. There are also Artist in Residence programmes with about six different artists a year coming to the island to work there temporarily.

They bring fresh AIR to Curaçao. They teach young people or get them involved in their projects in a masterapprentice construction. A second condition is that they have to leave behind a work, which is slowly but surely creating a growing collection for IBB. More than sixty-five artists have visited in the course of over twelve years.

Like Henkes, they have responded specifically to the Curaçaoan scenery.

IBB facilitates the projects of the artists in residence and arranges their collaboration with the constant flow of pupils (around twenty-five to forty talented teenagers a year on average), generating new heritage and innovative visions for the island. IBB’s profile is all the more distinctive because of the fact that it is housed in the grounds of the psychiatric institution Capriles, a daily reminder of IBB’s engagement with the community and the world around it.

During the ‘Henkes on Curaçao’ project, seventeen works by Dolf Henkes will be on display in IBB’s Gallery Esmeralda. As part of the IBB curriculum, as well as in the form of an educational programme for various secondary schools, the works will be ‘translated’ and interpreted in new artworks created by IBB pupils.

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AYCA All You Can Art (AYCA) is a collaborative project involving IBB and Kunsthal Rotterdam, and taking place in the summer of 2016, 2017 and 2018. It consists of an exhibition and an open studio. Artists and young people work together in a master-apprentice setup and are given an opportunity to create, learn and discover. The resulting works are given a place in the exhibition, whereby the exhibition becomes an expanding sculpture in progress.

As on Curaçao, AYCA constantly looks to communicate with the community, in particular in the care sector.

IBB and Kunsthal Rotterdam have plans to extend and consolidate the collaboration so that the Kunsthal can become a kind of IBB outpost in the Netherlands.

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GALLERY ESMERALDA, IBB, CURAÇAO, 2018

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CHRONICLE OF AN ARTIST’S LIFE

This is an abbreviated version of the entry ‘Kroniek van een kunstenaarsleven’ (Chronicle of an artist’s life) by Gepke Bouma in the 2003 book Eigenzinnig en ongrijpbaar. Dolf Henkes (1903 – 1989) (Idiosyncratic and elusive. Dolf Henkes (1903 – 1989)), pages 124-128, 2003, with the addition of more recent data.

1903

14 November, birth of Dolf (Roelof) Lucas Johannes Henkes. His parents were Johannes Josephus Henkes, a cafe owner, Remmeldina Johanna Maria Henkes-van Ouwerkerk, a housewife who also helped out in the cafe. Dolf Henkes had two sisters and one brother. The family were faithful Roman Catholics. They lived in the Katendrecht district of Rotterdam.

1914

Henkes’ father left his family and moved to Brussels. His mother worked to support the family.

1916

After finishing primary school, Dolf Henkes started work with a coppersmith.

He also took evening classes, training to become a benchman, at the technical school attached to the Academy for Fine Art and Technical Science.

1919 – 1926

Worked as a smith and precision benchman. Also occasionally worked in the docks loading cargo (cotton, coal, minerals). In his spare time he drew and painted.

1926 – 1928

Sailed as third engineer on a coal ship owned by the shipping company Scheepvaart- en Steenkolenmaatschappij, travelling to ports in France, Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. On board, he drew and painted. When the ship called into port, he visited museums, churches and other cultural sights. He sought contact with the art world.

1929

He signed off for health reasons – his stomach could not take the sea sickness.

He accepted a job on dry land as a precision benchman with the company Rotterdamse Droogdok Maatschappij in the Heijplaat port district in Rotterdam.

He spent his evenings and nights drawing and painting. Henkes became involved with Catholic networks and had his first Rotterdam exhibition in the marine missionary house Stella Maris. Later, there was an exhibition of his

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DOLF HENKES IN HIS STUDIO ON HARINGVLIET, ROTTERDAM, c. 1960 private collection DOLF HENKES IN HIS STUDIO ON HARINGVLIET, ROTTERDAM, c. 1970 private collection

Catholic work in London. He also published drawings in the progressive journal De Gemeenschap.

1932

With the approval of his family, he decided to dedicate himself to his art fulltime from then on. From this year on, he became part of the Rotterdam art world.

His family’s life was now centred on his career as an artist.

1933

He had his first solo exhibitions in galleries in Rotterdam and The Hague.

At the end of the year, progressive Rotterdam artists set up an association, the Kring van Beeldende Kunstenaars R’33 (society of visual artists R’33) Henkes exhibited his work in five R’33 group exhibitions between 1936 and 1940.

1935 – 1938

He paid several long visits to Paris, during which he visited the Louvre and art galleries, and worked in the ateliers sans professeurs of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. During this period, Henkes attended the Saturday afternoon graphic art classes at the art academy in Rotterdam

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1937

Executed his first large-scale commission: paintings in the new Feyenoord stadium. His fellow artists Wout van Heusden and Everardus Warffemius produced a mural and a glass wall for the stadium.

1939

Achieved recognition as a Catholic artist when he took part in a major exhibition of Catholic art to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of the death of Saint Willibrord.

1940 – 1945

Second World War. Rotterdam city centre and port were devastated by German bombing in 1940. Dolf Henkes produced paintings of the temporary shops set up in the devastated city centre and continued with his artistic work in his studio in Katendrecht. Katendrecht’s isolated location made it a relatively safe neighbourhood. He and his brother joined some friends in helping people going into hiding. Both were honoured for this work in around 1983 with a tree in the Joop Westerweel Forest in Jerusalem, commissioned by Mr and Mrs Van Wouwe, art collectors and friends of the family.

1945

He left by boat for Curaçao with around fifty paintings. He was going at the invitation of his friend Chris Engels. His exit visa was granted thanks to A.M. Hammacher, the temporary head of the fine art department at the Ministry of Education, Art and Science who went on to become a curator at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

1945 – 1947

Stayed on Curaçao where he executed two large-scale commissions, exhibited his work and created new work. He returned to Rotterdam via Mexico and New York.

1947

He moved into his studio on Haringvliet street in Rotterdam. The building also housed a ballet school and fencing school.

1948 and 1949

He executed commissions for large-scale murals in Rotterdam for the temporary theatre and the Rotterdam Ahoy event (which took place in 1950).

1950

Travelled to Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Austria and Yugoslavia.

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1964

Henkes’ mother died. The four Henkes ‘children’ continued to live together in Katendrecht, Rotterdam.

1965

Retrospective in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

1966 – 1967

Grim confrontations with the prostitution business in Katendrecht.

Partly because of this, he acquired a second studio in Tripscompagnie, a village in the northern province of Groningen. Up until the end of 1979, he would regularly go there for longer periods to stay and work.

1972

There were ideas for founding a ‘Henkes museum’ in Katendrecht especially for the people of Katendrecht. This became public knowledge via the media.

The options for doing this were explored in the years that followed but the plans were eventually abandoned for practical, substantive and financial reasons.

1977

He travelled to Curaçao again to restore and modify his murals. He had to return early because of the death of his youngest sister.

1978

He was awarded the Wolfert van Borselen medal by the city of Rotterdam.

1980

Broadcast of a TV programme with a double portrait of Dolf and his brother Jan Henkes by Hans Verhagen, in the short series Uit de volksmond (1979 – 1980) by the VPRO broadcasting company.

1987

He relinquished his studio on Haringvliet street because of age-related problems. He bequeathed his oeuvre (over 3.300 works) and his other artistic possessions to the state, to what is now the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. It catalogued and described the works, manages them and makes them available on loan.

1988

An exhibition in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen to celebrate his eighty-fifth birthday. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue with texts by his friend the author Gerard Reve and the curator Jan van Adrichem.

1989

Dolf Henkes passed away at home on 9 January.

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POSTHUMOUSLY 1991

The Henkes Foundation was formed. The purpose of the Foundation is on the one hand to raise public awareness of Dolf Henkes, his work, drawings and paintings and to manage and conserve the Henkes family’s collection of paintings and on the other hand to foster a favourable climate for fine art in the city of Rotterdam.

1994

Exhibition in the Kunsthal: Dolf Henkes – Works on Paper.

2003

The programme 100 Years of Dolf Henkes to celebrate the centenary of Dolf Henkes’ birth, with exhibitions of Henkes’ work in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Historical Museum of Rotterdam, the Maritime Museum Rotterdam and the Chabot Museum, a publication about his life, an electronic catalogue that included most of his works, and a website.

From 2004

At the initiative of the Henkes Foundation, the Dolf Henkes Award has been given to inspirational artists in Rotterdam. The winners so far have been Jeroen Eisinga (2004), Erik van Lieshout (2006), Melvin Moti (2008), Lara Almarcegui (2010), Gyz La Rivière (2012), Lidwien van de Ven (2014) and Katarina Zdjelar (2016).

2005

At the initiative of the Instituut Collectie Nederland and Chain Restauratieadvies BV, the mural entitled Professor van het Hof, which Henkes made in 1954 – 1955 for the staff canteen at the Caltex Refinery in Pernis, was restored and moved to the atrium of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

At the initiative of the Feijenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, the murals entitled Football Match, which Henkes made in 1937 for the cafeteria on the Olympiaweg side of the stadium, were restored and made visible again.

2014 – 2018

Verhalenhuis Belvédère, located in Katendrecht, Rotterdam, joined forces with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands to organise a series of ten exhibitions in which Henkes’ work functions as a mirror reflecting the modernday cosmopolitan city.

2018

At the initiative of the Henkes Foundation, the programme ‘Henkes on Curaçao’, with exhibitions of Henkes’ work in The Curaçao Museum and Intituto Buena Bista, an exhibition catalogue, visits to the murals at Hato airport and in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital and an educational project in schools.

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CHRONICLE

OVERVIEW

An overview of the works that Dolf Henkes painted during or after his stay on Curaçao and include ‘Curaçao’ in their title and/or description. The works come from various private and public collections. The overview gives an impression of the scope and nature of Henkes’ work, but it is not a complete survey.

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GALLEY BOY 1945

TERRACE – CURAÇAO 1945

SKETCHBOOK PAGE FROM CURAÇAO 1945

WOMEN AT HABAY – CURAÇAO 1945

oil on panel 69 x 50 cm private collection

oil on canvas, glued onto panel 70.5 x 50 cm RCE AB13255

ink on paper 29 x 44.5 cm RCE AB14085

ink on paper 25 x 32 cm RCE AB14074

CURAÇAO – PATIO 1945

SHED WITH TREE 1945

PIETERMAAI 1945

STILL LIFE 1945

oil on canvas 58.8 x 50 cm private collection

oil on paper, glued onto panel 34.5 x 43.5 cm private collection

oil on paper, glued onto panel 33 x 48 cm private collection

oil on paper, glued onto panel 64 x 44 cm private collection

OVERVIEW

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STONE STORIES 1945

NUNS – ANONYMOUS 1945

NUNS – MORE NATURAL IN FORM 1945

AT THE DOCTOR 1945

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 32.5 x 50 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 32.5 x 50 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 32.5 x 50 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 25 x 32.5 cm private collection

RADIOTHERAPY 1945

LANDSCAPE ON CURAÇAO 1945

THE GOOD SAMARITAN 1945

CLINIC WAITING ROOM 1945

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 25 x 32.5 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao (not included) chinese ink on paper 25 x 32.5 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, p. 1 chinese ink on paper 32.5 x 50 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, p. 5 chinese ink on paper 32.5 x 50 cm private collection

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OVERVIEW

ANNO 1855 1945

AT THE PAEDIATRICIAN 1945

SICK MAN IN THE KUNUKU 1945

UNTITLED 1945

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, p. 6 chinese ink on paper 50 x 32.5 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, p. 60 chinese ink on paper 31 x 42 cm private collection

illustration for ‘Silent Testimonies of a Hundred Years of the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis’, Curaçao, published by N.V. Paulus Drukkerij, 1955, p. 81 chinese ink on paper 25 x 32.5 cm private collection

ink on paper 32 x 47.5 cm private collection

UNTITLED 1946

UNTITLED 1946

UNTITLED 1946

UNTITLED 1946

fresco murals in the chapel Sint Elisabeth Hospital, Curaçao

fresco mural in the main hall of the airport terminal Hato Airport, Curaçao

oil on panel 57 x 47 cm Museum De Rietgors, Papendrecht

ink on paper 13.5 x 19.2 cm RCE AB14763

OVERVIEW

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CURAÇAO – THE RIF 1946

SLAVE MARKET – CURAÇAO 1946

UNTITLED 1946

BOY FROM SABA c. 1946

oil on panel 63 x 77 cm RCE AB13343

oil on canvas 44.5 x 54.5 cm RCE AB13231

oil on panel 31 x 68 cm private collection

oil on panel 66 x 32.5 cm private collection

BOY – CURAÇAO 1946

UNTITLED c. 1946

PATIO 1946

MARY VISITING ELIZABETH c. 1946

oil on panel 44 x 39 cm RCE AB13199

pencil, crayon, felt tip and oil on paper 34.5 x 21.7 cm RCE AB16249

chinese ink on paper 37.5 x 36 cm private collection

oil on paper, glued onto panel 47 x 75 cm collection unknown

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OVERVIEW

UNTITLED 1946

CURAÇAO c. 1946

AT THE BARBER SHOP ON CURAÇAO c. 1946

CURAÇAOAN WOMAN c. 1946

oil on cardboard 44.3 x 59.9 cm private collection

oil on paper 25 x 37 cm private collection

oil on paper 38.5 x 56.6 cm private collection

oil on paper 50 x 40 cm private collection

PORTRAIT 1946

STUDY OF A MENTALLY RETARDED WOMAN – CURAÇAO c. 1946

FLOWERS ON CURAÇAO c. 1946

CURAÇAO c. 1947

oil and pencil on paper 26 x 21 cm private collection

pencil, ink and chalk on paper 35 x 38.8 cm RCE AB14193

oil on panel 53 x 61 cm RCE AB13012

oil, filler on plywood 25 x 36 cm private collection

OVERVIEW

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UNTITLED 1947

DOCTOR ON CURAÇAO c. 1947

FLEEING WOMAN 1947

FLEEING WOMAN 1947

ink on paper 24 x 16 cm RCE AB14390

ink on cardboard 28.2 x 23 cm RCE AB14454

oil on paper, glued onto panel 32.5 x 25 cm private collection

oil on paper 33.2 x 44.9 cm private collection

PORTRAIT OF MRS M. KASTEEL 1947

PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR P. KASTEEL 1947

PORTRAIT CURAÇAO 1947

STILL LIFE – CURAÇAO 1947

oil on canvas 90 x 70 cm private collection

oil on canvas 90 x 70 cm private collection

oil on canvas 55.5 x 37.5 cm private collection

oil on panel 47.5 x 66 cm RCE AB13184

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OVERVIEW

WHORE – CURAÇAO 1947

CACTUS – CURAÇAO 1947

STILL LIFE WITH BIRD – CURAÇAO 1946

PORTRAIT OF R. BOSKALJON c. 1946

oil on paper 47 x 32.5 cm RCE AB13273

oil on canvas 36 x 50.5 cm RCE AB13177

oil on panel 49 x 62 cm RCE AB13178

oil on paper 62 x 67 cm Het Curaçaosch Museum

UNTITLED 1947

SEA AT CURAÇAO 1947

DONKEYS – CURAÇAO 1947

WESTPUNT – CURAÇAO 1947

chalk and ink on paper 15 x 23 cm Het Curaçaosch Museum

oil on canvas 44.5 x 53.5 cm RCE AB13026

oil on canvas, glued onto panel 92 x 58 cm RCE AB13232

oil on canvas 56 x 71.5 cm RCE AB13244

OVERVIEW

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CURAÇAO – HATO c. 1947

DONKEY – CURAÇAO 1947

CURAÇAO – OTROBANDA 1947

CURAÇAO – PUNDA 1947

oil, filler on panel 47 x 37.7 cm Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Rotterdam

35 x 38.5 cm oil on canvas RCE AB13188

66 x 72 cm oil on panel RCE AB13338

pencil and ink on paper 32 x 49.4 cm RCE AB13700

SWIMMING POOL – CURAÇAO 1948

HOUSES ON CURAÇAO 1948

PEOPLE – CURAÇAO 1948

UNTITLED 1948

oil on canvas, glued onto panel 50 x 60.5 cm RCE AB13349

oil on canvas, glued onto panel 27 x 33 cm private collection

69 x 68 cm oil on panel RCE AB13340

sketch book oil and pencil on paper 27.5 x 21 cm RCE AB14361

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OVERVIEW

CACTUS ON CURAÇAO 1948

CURAÇAO c.1948

UNTITLED c. 1948

CURAÇAO – EVENING MOOD c. 1950

oil on canvas 72 x 62 cm RCE AB13243

oil and ink on paper 23.5 x 30 cm RCE AB13527

sketch book ink on paper 27.5 x 21 cm RCE AB14359

oil on panel 41 x 47 cm RCE AB13299

TERRACE – CURAÇAO 1952

SWIMMING POOL – CURAÇAO 1953

CURAÇAO, WHITE DONKEY 1953

CURAÇAO 1953

oil on panel 50 x 52 cm RCE AB13305

oil on panel 59 x 74 cm RCE AB13102

oil on canvas 52 x 72 cm RCE AB13354

oil on canvas 40 x 40 cm private collection

OVERVIEW

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CURAÇAO, LANDSCAPE 1954

UNTITLED 1958

UNTITLED 1958

UNTITLED 1958

oil on panel 37 x 52.5 cm RCE AB13009

ink on paper 29.5 x 19.5 cm RCE AB16148

ink on paper 29.5 x 19.5 cm RCE AB16146

ink on paper 15.8 x 24.6 cm RCE AB16163

RECUMBENT NUDE 1958

SEASCAPE CURAÇAO 1959

SAN ANTONIO – CURAÇAO 1960

VIEW OUT TO SEA – CURAÇAO 1966

watercolor and chalk on paper 54 x 68 cm Het Curaçaosch Museum

oil on canvas 37 x 45 cm private collection

oil on panel 37 x 70 cm RCE AB13111

ink on paper 28 x 38 cm RCE AB13697

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OVERVIEW

VEGETATION – CURAÇAO 1966

WOMAN – INTERIOR CURAÇAO 1968

DOCKYARD ON CURAÇAO 1974

MODEL CURAÇAO 1975

ink on paper 38 x 24.5 cm RCE AB13706

oil on panel 54.5 x 31.5 cm RCE AB13101

oil on panel 75 x 49.5 cm RCE AB13062

oil on cardboard 29 x 21 cm private collection

ROCKING HORSE c. 1977

TERRACE – CURAÇAO 1977

REFINERY ON CURAÇAO c. 1977

THE BAY AT WILLEMSTAD 1977

oil and chalk on paper 26 x 34 cm Het Curaçaosch Museum

oil on panel 52 x 80.5 cm RCE AB13282

oil on panel 67 x 40.5 cm private collection

design for a mural in the Feijenoord Stadium Rotterdam oil on paper 31 x 100 cm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

OVERVIEW

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HOUSES ON CURAÇAO c. 1977

CURAÇAO 1977

CURAÇAO 1977

THE RED HOUSE IN WILLEMSTAD 1978

oil on hardboard 40 x 40 cm private collection

oil on panel 52 x 100 cm RCE AB13283

oil on canvas 42 x 47 cm RCE AB13170

oil on cardboard 50 x 65 cm private collection

PIETER MAI – CURAÇAO 1978

LANDSCAPE WITH TREE – CURAÇAO 1979

CURAÇAO 1983

SWIMMING POOL ON CURAÇAO 1984

oil on panel 32 x 78.5 cm RCE AB13029

oil on panel 45.5 x 53.5 cm RCE AB13020

oil on panel 53 x 38.5 cm RCE AB13080

oil on paper, glued onto panel 46.5 x 83 cm RCE AB13087

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OVERVIEW

CURAÇAO 1984

ROCKS ON CURAÇAO 1985

CURAÇAO, WESTPUNT 1985

SHOEMAKER ON CURAÇAO 1986

oil on panel 52 x 40.5 cm RCE AB13290

oil on panel 50 x 45 cm RCE AB13386

oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm RCE AB13082

oil on panel 80 x 45 cm RCE AB13018

PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS – CURAÇAO 1988

oil on canvas 82.5 x 72.7 cm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

OVERVIEW

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NOTES LITERATURE BOUMA/VAN DE LAAR/VROEGINDEWEIJ 2003

G. Bouma, P. van de Laar, R. Vroegindeweij, Dolf Henkes (1903 – 1989).

Eigenzinnig en ongrijpbaar, Schiedam 2003 VAN BURKOM/SPOELSTRA/VERMAAT 2013

F. van Burkom, Y. Spoelstra, S. Vermaat, Kunst van de wederopbouw Nederland 1940 – 1965, Rotterdam 2013 DE GROOT 1988

E. de Groot, Dolf Henkes, schilderijen/paintings, exhib.cat. Rotterdam (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) 1988 DE HEER 2011 J. de Heer, Rietveld en Curaçao. Een modern architect op een Caraïbisch eiland, Rotterdam 2011 HENGEVELD/ENGELS 2018

J.N.F. Hengeveld, H.V. Engels, Het Curaçaosch Museum 70 jaar.

7 maart 1948 – 7 maart 2018. Het ontstaan en de beginjaren, no loc. 2018 HUISKAMP 2017 M. Huiskamp, ‘Hunziker, Frieda’, Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, referenced on April 29, 2018, www.resources.huygens.knaw.nl MARTIS/SMIT 2002

A. Martis, J. Smit, Arte – Dutch Caribbean Art. Beeldende kunst van de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba, Amsterdam 2002 SANDBERG 1977

W. Sandberg (red), Luc Tournier 70. Portretten en ontmoetingen, Amsterdam 1977 SMIT/DE ROOY 2012 J. Smit, F. de Rooy, Curaçao Classics. Beeldende kunst – Arte Visual 1900 – 2010, Amsterdam 2012

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AUTHORS DAVID BADE Curaçao 1970

Studied at the teacher training college in Diemen and took a post-graduate course at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. He was awarded a Prix de Rome (1993), he has shown his work in many different museums, galleries and countries, and in 2010 he received the prestigious Sikkens Prize. He has also taught at many different establishments. With his sights constantly set on the public sphere, participation and interaction with the general public and the local community, he decided to return to the island of his birth and to develop the IBB together with Tirzo Martha and other kindred spirits.

In 2016, they received the PBCCG Culture Prize set up by the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund for the Caribbean.

1940 – 1951, LM Publishers, 2018. Co-author with the composer Kees Tazelaar of Van harmonie naar chaos.

Le Corbusier, Varèse, Xenakis en Le poème électronique, Uitgeverij 1001, 2017.

JULIE HENGEVELD Melbourne 1975

Studied art history at the University of Groningen.

She is a freelance art historian who teaches at the Vrije Academie, writes texts for various museums, publishes in the newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad and blogs for Lambo publishers. She is also on the board of Edams Museum, where she works as a curator. Finally, since March 2017 she has been on the board of the Historical Society of Warder, the Dutch village where she now lives.

VERELE ENGELS Curaçao, 1953

CATHY JACOB Rotterdam 1970

Studied French and Museum Studies at Leiden University. She was the director of The Curaçao Museum from 1986 to 1991 and chair of the same museum from 2007 to 2012. In 2008, she set up the Myrrhe & Myth Foundation in order to preserve and publicise the ideas and artistic and cultural legacy of Chris and Lucila Engels. In 2015, she formed the Shared Cultural Heritage of Curaçao – Netherlands Foundation with the aim of documenting and publicising the common cultural heritage that Curaçao shares with the Netherlands.

These days, she works as an art and antiques valuer, art critic and exhibition curator.

Studied graphic art at the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts in Antwerp and Arts and Culture Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She has worked for the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and Kunstgebouw. For the past ten years she has been head of the Exhibition department at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. She is also a member of the board of the Henkes Foundation and initiator of the Henkes on Curaçao project.

ERIK HAMMERSTEIN Rotterdam 1950

Born in Rotterdam, he works as a lawyer in Amsterdam and is chairman of the Henkes Foundation. Hammerstein visited Henkes’ studio at a young age and continued to visit him until the artist’s death in 1989. He administered the artist’s estate, leading to the establishment of the Henkes Foundation and a biennial prize for young visual artists from Rotterdam and Curaçao.

TIRZO MARTHA Curaçao 1965

He started his training as an artist at the Academia di Arte Korsou on Curaçao in 1985. He then moved to the Netherlands to study at HKU University of the Arts in Utrecht. He continued his education at the Frans Molenaar Fashion School, after which he returned to Curaçao. On the island, he became a socially engaged artist who worked out on the streets as well as in his studio. His work has been displayed around the world, with exhibitions in the United States, Germany, Portugal, Curaçao, Martinique, Santo Domingo, Cuba and the Netherlands. He cofounded the IBB along with David Bade.

JAN DE HEER Schiedam 1948

Studied architecture at Delft University of Technology.

Recent publications: Rietveld & Curaçao. Een modern architect op een Caraïbisch eiland, 010 Publishers, 2011; De Stoep. Chris Engels en de literatuur op Curaçao

NOTES

NATHALIE MENKE Rotterdam 1969

Studied art history at Leiden University (1994) and European Studies on Society, Science and Technology (ESST, 1998) at Maastricht University. In 2002, she

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conducted a survey of the oeuvre of Dolf Henkes in the hands of private collectors and museums in the Netherlands at the behest of the Dolf Henkes Centenary Foundation. Menke is currently working as a consultant on loans at the art collections department of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

SANDRA SMETS Haarlem 1970

Studied art history at Leiden University. She worked for more than ten years for the Rotterdam Centre for the Arts. Since 2006, she has worked for the newspaper NRC Handelsblad as a contributor specialized in visual arts. She also writes for various journals and publications.

She writes about visual arts with a focus on contemporary art, with a particular interest in art in public spaces.

JENNIFER SMIT Curaçao 1951

Graduated in art history from the University of Amsterdam. Smit is an independent curator, author and critic on the island of her birth. She co-authored two standard works on the history of fine art on Curaçao: Arte Dutch Caribbean Art 2002 with Adi Martis and Curaçao Classics 1900 – 2010 - Antepasado di Futuro 2012 with Felix de Rooy.

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PUBLICATION AND PHOTO CREDITS

This publication marks the Henkes on Curaçao event. This event includes three exhibitions of Henkes’ work in museums on Curaçao: The Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista and the Curaçao Maritime Museum. The exhibitions will take place between 22 September 2018 and 13 January 2019.

Henkes on Curaçao is being organised by the Henkes Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in collaboration with The Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista, Maritime Museum Curaçao and Fundashon Plataforma Kultural (education). www.dolfhenkes.com www.cultureelerfgoed.nl

The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) administers the estate of the Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes.

Works that could not be dated precisely have been given estimated dates, which can be recognised by the use of c. followed by the date.

Archive material included in the catalogue such as photographs, documents, newspaper clippings and printed material that does not include the owner’s name comes from the Henkes archive.

The Henkes archive is part of the Dolf Henkes estate and is administered by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

All photographs have kindly been made available by the various institutes.

The abbreviation RCE stands for Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, whose English name is the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

PHOTOGRAPHS WERE TAKEN BY BOB GOEDEWAAGEN, ROTTERDAM p. 74 (2nd row, 1st left), p. 78 (1st row, 4th left) EPPO W. NOTENBOOM p. 68 (upper left) FANNY LOPEZ p. 18 (upper right) FRED FISCHER, CURAÇAO p. 54–55, 76 (2nd row, 2nd left) JAN DE HEER p. 14 (bottom right), 18 (bottom right), 56 (left) L.W. SCHMIDT ROTTERDAM p. 68 (upper right) PAUL COX p. 52–53, 76 (2nd row, 1st left) RIEN TE HENNEPE p. 10, p. 50, p. 74 (2nd row 2nd, 3rd, 4th left), p. 76 (1st row, 4th left),

p.77 (2nd row, 4th left), p. 80 (2nd row, 1st left), p. 83 (2nd, 1st left), p. 84 (2nd row, 1st left), STUDIO TROMP, ROTTERDAM p. 82 (b), 86 (2nd row, 1st left)

It has not been possible to ascertain the rights-holders of the all of the photographs used.

The parties concerned are asked to contact the Stichting Henkes, info@dolfhenkes.com.

NOTES

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COMPILED AND EDITED BY Cathy Jacob TEXT BY David Bade, Verele Engels, Erik Hammerstein, Jan de Heer, Julie Hengeveld,

Cathy Jacob, Sandra Smets, Jennifer Smit, Tirzo Martha and Nathalie Menke TEXT EDITED BY Clazien Medendorp TRANSLATED BY Bookmakers GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Minke Themans PRINTED BY Hightrade B.V.

All rights reserved. Nothing from this publication may be reproduced and/or published in any formor in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, reprographic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978 94 6022 501 7

LM PUBLISHERS

Parallelweg 37 1131 DM Volendam info@lmpublishers.nl www.lmpublishers.nl © 2018 LM Publishers, Volendam The Henkes on Curaçao event has been made possible with the financial assistance of the Mondriaan Fonds and is being sponsored by Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (Central Bank), VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and PowerHouse Company. The educational programme on Curaçao and Bonaire is being supported by Fonds 21.

ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN / STRATEGY

(p. 94) DOLF HENKES IN HIS STUDIO ON THE HARINGVLIET, ROTTERDAM, c. 1970 private collection

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THUMBNAILS

THUMBNAILS

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CHAPTER

At the end of 1945, at the invitation of the doctor and artist Chris Engels, the Rotterdam-born artist Dolf Henkes boarded a boat to Curaçao. He took fifty paintings with him and made two important murals on the island, in the terminal building of Hato Airport and in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth Hospital. In the summer of 1947 he travelled on to Mexico and New York.

Curaçao’s colours, light and people made a deep impression on him following the dark years of the Second World War in the Netherlands. He succeeded in translating the island’s archetypal qualities and themes into a highly personal, modern idiom. Curaçao remained close to his heart and would exert an abiding influence on his work.

ISBN: 978-94-6022-5017

CHAPTER

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