Berend Groeneveld - Rue d'Odessa (Atelier André Lhote)

Berend Groeneveld (1866-1941)

Rue d'Odessa (Atelier André Lhote)

Oil on canvas

Signed lower right

45 x 37.5 cm

Frame: 54 x 46.5 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Amsterdam; private collection, Naarden.

Additional information:

Berend Groeneveld began his career as a butter and cheese merchant in Bedum. In his early forties he decided to change course, withdraw from the dairy trade and devote himself entirely to painting. After moving to Amsterdam, he studied under Martin Monnickendam and his mentor Simon Maris, and became a respected member of Arti et Amicitiae. From 1929 onwards, Groeneveld spent every summer, from early June to mid-September, in Paris, the cultural capital of Europe.

Through Simon Maris, Groeneveld became acquainted with Piet Mondrian, from whom he took painting lessons in the 1930s. A close friendship developed, with Groeneveld taking lessons every other week, followed by elaborate meals at one of their favourite restaurants. The former butter and cheese merchant became part of Paris’s cultural life and met remarkable figures such as Ernest Hemingway and the painter Salvador Dali.

Groeneveld’s artistic focus lay mainly on Paris city views, in which he depicted strolling women and characteristic shop signs in a naïve style, playing with perspective and colour. This painting offers a view of Rue d’Odessa in Montparnasse. Around 1900, Montparnasse became the international centre for avant-garde artists, succeeding Montmartre. One prominent artist on this street was the world-famous Cubist and theorist André Lhote. At his art academy, the Académie André Lhote at no. 18, he would teach and inspire hundreds of artists from around the world throughout his career. Groeneveld prominently depicted Lhote’s shop sign.