Anneke van der Feer - At the Office (1947)

Anneke (Anna) van der Feer (1902–1956)

At the Office

Charcoal on paper

Signed and dated “A. vd Feer ’47” lower left

31 × 23 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Friesland.

Information:

Anneke van der Feer was a committed artist and avowed communist whose life and art were devoted to the working class. She was known as an independent woman and political activist, and her art reflected her strong social convictions.

Born in Sneek in 1902, Van der Feer moved to Amsterdam to pursue her artistic calling after breaking away from her affluent parents. There, she studied under Harmen Meurs, an influential figure in her artistic development. From 1927 onward, she exhibited her work at the annual Onafhankelijken exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. During preparations for the 1931 exhibition, she helped Nola Hatterman hang her work, a moment captured in the well-known iconic photograph.

Anneke van der Feer’s work sought to portray reality in a powerful and expressive manner, without embellishment. Working in the styles of Social Realism and Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (New Objectivity), her work bears similarities to leading artists such as Charley Toorop and Dick Ket, with whom she was also friends.

Through Meurs, she met the Russian filmmaker Joris Ivens, with whom she later became romantically involved and moved to Moscow in 1934. During her time there, she produced austere charcoal drawings of male and female workers at the Sikkel & Hamer steelworks, which were published in communist newspapers such as De Tribune. After Ivens left Moscow in 1936, Van der Feer remained there until 1938, determined to participate in the struggle she considered crucial. She later moved to Paris before eventually returning to Amsterdam in 1940. After the war, she designed the cover of the magazine Repoeblik Indonesië to mark the first anniversary of Indonesian independence. In 1947, Van der Feer travelled to liberated Yugoslavia, where the reconstruction of the country attracted young international brigadists who, among other things, helped construct the national railway. It was there that Van der Feer encountered Ivens again.

Van der Feer’s art, comprising both oil paintings and charcoal drawings, is characterized by a robust Social Realist style that distinguishes her from her teacher Meurs. Her works entered the collections of prominent museums and institutions, including the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Gemeentemuseum Helmond, and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Anneke van der Feer spent her final years in the Zeeland town of Veere. On the basis of her work created there, she is considered part of the group known as the Veerse Joffers. In Veere, she met Herman Schutte, her final partner. In 1956, Van der Feer died unexpectedly from a heart condition.

Bob Scholte Fine Art holds a large collection of drawings by Anneke van der Feer. If you are interested, please get in touch via the contact form.