 PRESS RELEASE May, 2004 Domburg: Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum Domburg 20 June - 7 November, 2004 The Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum celebrates its 10th anniversary with a jubilee exhibition on the life and work of the artist Mies Elout-Drabbe. The collection Elout-Drabbe is the core of the exhibition Moen! Between Toorop and Mondriaan. The artist Mies Elout-Drabbe 1875-1956. By addition of a number of very special loans a complete survey on the artist's work is achieved in the art-historical sense.
The work of Elout-Drabbe came only fully on stage in the estate of her son, who died ten years ago, in 1994. The estate of Frans Elout is still together as a collection. It consists of around forty oil paintings and some three hundred works on paper, varying from pastel to thumbnail sketches in pencil. It was the testator's wish to give the collection extensive and comprehensive coverage one day. Through the exhibition around Moen as he called his mother, his wish is honoured. At the exhibition there are also on view works and/or letters of friends such as Jan Toorop, Piet Mondriaan, Maurice Góth and Paul Schultze. Quotation from Mies owed her development of feeling for division and shading of filling-in to Toorop, and also the way to paint shadow and the combined action of lines; Mondriaan taught her to see subjects in a more monumental way, to work with contrasts and to try the effectual meaning of a single line.[…] Mondriaan made her try experiments with form which could have led to further achievements, if this interesting development had not been nipped in the bud by the negative remarks on Mondriaan's influence on her from the notorious critic Albert Plasschaert (1874-1941), second husband of her cousin, the painter Lucie van Dam van Isselt. The Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum Domburg opened its doors in 1994, the Mondriaan year. It is established in a reconstruction of the small exhibition building which was the centre of the artists community in the beginning of the 20th century. Painters like Piet Mondriaan, Jan Toorop, Mies Elout-Drabbe, Jacoba van Heemskerck and Jan Heyse not only participated in the exhibitions, but were also important members of the local artists colony. The reconstructed building is not, as the original was, close to the sea, but in the centre of Domburg. Just as then, the museum intends to show the cultural importance of Domburg to a large public. This happens in more or less the same way as it used to be done; exhibitions are organized in spring and summer. These exhibitions are almost always accompanied by the publishing of new books on the subjects exhibited. The exposition is put together by Francisca van Vloten. For years she has researched the artists colony of Domburg and the life and work of Mies Elout-Drabbe. The work of Mies Elout-Drabbe shows different phases. Her first lessons she got from the Middelburg artist Willem Schütz. He taught her to draw according to nature. After she met Jan Toorop in 1898, her work gained in depth. Toorop immediately recognized her subtle gift for portrait painting and stimulated her with advice on the materials, the technique, the right subject, the ways to look at a subject, the importance of practice and drawing by heart. She owed her development of feeling for division and shading of filling-in to him, as well as the way to paint shadow and to combine the action of lines. His influence can for example be seen in her beautiful portraits of him, of his daughter Charley and of Johan Drabbe - Mies' father . From 1903 onwards Toorop spent almost yearly some time in Domburg, together with him and next on her own Mies started to use the pointillist technique. She developed a tender, subdued range of colouring, which seems typical of her. Until the First World War she would apply this technique, in oils and coloured pencil, often with landscapes as a subject and occasionally also divisionistic. In her portrait paintings she gradually moved away from Toorop's influence and acquired a refined approach of her own. After meeting Piet Mondriaan, around 1908/1909, she started - under his influence - to see her subjects in a more monumental way, to work more with contrasts and to try the effectual meaning of a single line. Beautiful examples thereof are the charcoal drawing Bosch (undated), the painting Boomen (undated) and especially the oil Bevroren Zee (1916), in which she, following Mondriaan, used horizontal and vertical principles in her quest for a clear rendering of the universal. Mondriaan brought her to experiments with form which could have led to further achievements, if this interesting development had not been nipped in the bud by negative remarks from the notorious critic Albert Plasschaert. From that time onwards Mies Elout only experimented in her own studio, a few examples thereof - among them De Ibis (undated) and the small but strong drawing Boomen aan zee (1923) have been kept. Outwards Mies concentrated on a different approach; more and more she tried to render a deeper or higher, a cosmic reality behind the visible reality. This led, in a late phase, to relative true-to-nature works which were specified by symbolistic features and above all by a special glow, and which showed that she also in this respect after acquired experience eventually went her own way. At the same time exhibition in the Zeeuwse Bibliotheek in Middelburg and presentation in De Drvkkery in Middelburg and the Rabobank Noordwest-Walcheren in Domburg. Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum Domburg The exhibition has been sponsored by the municipality Veere, the province Zeeland, the Von Brucken Fock Fonds and the Rabobank Noordwest-Walcheren. |
Close friend of Toorop and not only influenced by him but also by Mondriaan, the artist Mies Elout-Drabbe worked in Domburg and was co-organiser of the famous Domburg Exhibitions (1911-1921). Although she remained relatively unknown outside Domburg, her work shows great talent. She is often mentioned as the pupil of Toorop, but in her work also Mondriaan's influence is noticeable. Apart from her pointillated work one can also observe a tendency to abstraction and art deco, with obvious symbolistic influences. She made many portraits, which resulted in a.o. splendid impressions of famous contemporaries. Her work is subtle, full of atmosphere and varied. The same holds true for her personality. The pilot-author Adriaan Viruly wrote the following poetic line on her: 'Her every gesture is: a tender understanding'. Mies Elout believed in the omnipresence of the good and acted accordingly.