| Hubertine Heijermans | |
|---|---|
Self-portrait of Hubertine Heijermans, 1959 |
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| Born | 8 January 1936 Amsterdam |
| Nationality | Dutch |
Hubertine Heijermans is a Dutch painter, a multi-plate etching artist and printmaker.
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Hubertine Heijermans was born in Amsterdam.[1] on 8 January 1936. She was educated at the Barlaeus Gymnasium, took painting lessons from 1954-1957 with Jos Rovers[2], and then won a scholarship for the Rijksakademie and worked with professor Gé Röling (1904–1981) and Jan Wiegers. In 1958 she met Nils Tellander, born in Holland, but a volunteer in the British Army during the second world war. They got married in September of that year and settled in Switzerland near Lausanne, where in 1960 their son Anyan was born. In 1968 Heijermans entered the American high school Villa Schifanoia (Rosary College of Arts and Sciences Villa Schifanoia) in Fiesole. The school was run by Dominican Sisters and instead of having to remain in the convent, her teacher Swietlan Kraczyna found a studio for her in a palazzo overlooking Florence and the river Arno. In 1972 Heijermans won the Premio Brunellesco (a Florentine prize for painters, sculptors and other artists) with a series of seven oil paintings, honored by Piero Bargellini the Mayor of Florence. Then she returned to Villars in Switzerland, taking with her the 200 kilogram etching press from Bendini-Bologna. The couple Tellander divorced in 1973 and her husband remained in Lausanne.
Heijermans painted apart from self-portraits a series of portraits of actresses or ‘Haute-Couture’ models of Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier[3] and Yves Saint Laurent. Her brushes captured Isabelle Adjani[4] playing in 'La Reine Margot'[5], visible on the official website in section painting in Switzerland and Emmanuelle Béart[6], in the french movie 'Une Femme Française', Carla Bruni, topmodel in the 90s of Yves Saint-Laurent and several other fashion-houses. Inspiration was also found with the Swiss Circus Knie[7] and in 2003, when the family Knie celebrated their 200 year existence, Heijermans offered her painting, Géraldine equestrian acrobate as a gift, which is now hanging in the main office of the Circus' Headquarters.
In 1970 Pietro Annigoni (Florence) Italy showed her the ancient techniques in oil painting including the use of flake white [8]. His secret recipes including white toxic lead powder taught her to improve the adherence of the paint and reduce the process of it becoming dark and yellow with time. In the 90s Jesus Penarreal equally showed the value of thin layers of glaze, which flake white allowed to paint. Penarreal sent Heijermans to study this Spanish impressionist painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida in the Museu de Belles Arts (Valencia) where students can draw.[9]
Exhibits in Florence (Italy) took place in 1969, 1970 and 1972 and in Switzerland from 1973–2008, after she settled in the Commune of Ollon. She exhibited in Aigle, Lausanne, Montreux, Fribourg, Sion, Porrentruy and in Aubonne[10] near Lausanne. In 1994 Heijermans showed hundreds of oilpaintings, watercolors and etchings in Singapore.[11] Other exhibits were held in The Netherlands, in the Scheveningen (1964), Delft (1970), Amsterdam (1982) and Leiden (1983). The Musée Jenisch in Vevey[12] now keeps 120 etchings, lithos and héliogravures, since recent work was added in 2007. The museum for photography Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne conserves 45 photo-etchings since Charles-Henri Favrod personally made his choice of her héliogravures in 1993. In fact she mastered photogravure and color etching while staying in Lucca with Luis Camnitzer and David Finkbeiner, both from New York. The Dutch Museum van Bommel van Dam keeps 23 etchings and lithographies printed by herself since 1978 when they were accepted after a vote of the Municipality of the town of Venlo. Her graphic work can also be found at the Dominican University, Illinois. In July 2011 the recently restored Musée du Chablais of the Château de la Porte du Scex added 2 oil paintings to their collection of etchings, lithos, héliogravures and woodcuts of which they already conserved 80 artist proofs and handprinted originals.
