Description

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Pieter van der Hem was born on September 9, 1885 in Wirdum. He was a Dutch painter, draftsman and book binding designer. After becoming an orphan at the age of twelve, he was taken into the family of an uncle and aunt in Leeuwarden. After having visited the State HBS in this city for four years, he decided, encouraged by his art teacher J. Bubberman, to further become an artist. In 1902 Van der Hem went to Amsterdam to study at the National School of Applied Arts. He also followed a drawing course at the Rijksakademie of visual arts in Amsterdam. From mid-1907 to 1908, a Royal Painting Grant allowed him to live and study at Montmartre in Paris for a year. He made a large number of drawings and paintings of the street and nightlife in Paris, in which many similarities with the work of artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Steinlen are noticeable. Van der Hem was also fascinated by the charm of Parisian nightlife. He then returned to Amsterdam where he started working on De Nieuwe Amsterdammer from 1914 with rather political drawings that were not devoid of humor. In the beginning Piet van der Hem made all the lithos that came as an addition to the episodes of this magazine. Later Willy Sluiter and Jan Sluijters also started working for this magazine. He also made drawings in De Kroniek magazine. In 1923 he started working as a political draftsman for De Haagsche Post. Van der Hem made dozens of drawings for the Sprokkelingen magazine of the Lindeteves Stokvis firm, while he also designed advertising brochures, posters and book bindings for other companies. A reviewer wrote about him; “Here is a draftsman of admirable skill, agility, clarity, and poise.” Piet van der Hem died in The Hague on 24 April 1961.

Free to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_van_der_Hem