The light under the bushel:
Jan Rynink, Marine Artist by Alex. A. Hurst
Since I make no pretensions to being an art critic, it never fails to amaze-and frequently to depress-me that so many soidisant marine artists send me specimens of their work for assessment. The time element provided when the work comes through the mail at least allows some time to improve on such reactions as : "I am sure you have done your best." But on those occasions when such artists have actually arrived with their work, it has usually been a trifle embarrassing. My fairy godmother did not endow me with a poker face. Thus my heart sank when a Dutchman said he was going to be in England and would like to show me his work. He duly arrived and proved to be an extremely pleasant fellow with an utterly charming wife. So far, so good , but I still eyed an
unopened portfolio with a degree of apprehension. Finally it was opened, whereupon my eyes almost started out of their sockets. In the same instant, I lost all fears of having to conjure up insincere comment. Here was a man with a sure and masterly touch , who knew precisely what he was doing ; who painted what he saw with no flights into spheres of which he had no experience; and who had some uncanny mastery over all the tricks and gradations oflight. Jan Rynink, for he it was, certainly had a flying start. Both his grandfather and father were experienced painters who, seeing his enchantment with their work, with infinite patience introduced him to the difficulties , pitfalls and joys of painting. They could scarcely have had a more apt pupil-but I doubt if anyone can teach
an understanding of the very play of light itself. As a small boy, he was attracted to the sea and ships which still constitute the bulk of his subjects. He fell wholly under their lure and in 1938, at the age of 18, went to the Nautical College at Terschelling, one of a chain of small islands off the Dutch Frisian coast. There followed service as a cadet in the Dutch hospital ship Oranje, and later he served with both the Rotterdam-South America Line and the Holland Inter-Amerika Line, obtaining his master's ticket in 1954. Two years later, on getting married , he "swallowed the anchor" and came ashore to pursue a successful commercial career, living at Overveen, near Haarlem. Soon our room was covered with pictures, as we talked. Scenes on the Por-
"The Trailing Wave of the Wake" in the Red Sea near Perim Island.
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SEA HISTORY, FALL 1983