Art In Action: Dutch Artist Includes A Tulip In Her Work
BY DARLA MCCAMMON
Lakeland Art Association
WARSAW — Our daffodil artist Morrisott was an impressionist. This week’s creator of the lovely tulip was Judith Jans Leyster who, like most Dutch masters, was a realist. You are viewing (photo provided) the only still life created by Leyster who was considered a Dutch Golden Age painter. She was one of only three females recognized for their art during this era.
For years after her death at the young age of 50 in 1660, her work was credited to Frans Hals, but in 1893 Hofstede de Groot dug a little deeper and proved seven paintings to be her work. Leyster had a very distinguishable monogram signature which was also a play on her name. She signed her work with her initials JL attached to a star. Lei-star represented “Lead star” but was also the name of her father’s brewery. It was the discovery of the monogram which helped authenticate her work as she seldom used her real signature.
The tulip is quite different from much of her other work which leaned toward many variants of the dutch people she knew in varying scenes of daily life. Her self-portrait is in our own National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
It is thought she became an artist to help her family when her father went bankrupt. Her life was quite colorful and in 1636 she married the dutch artist Jan Molenaer and moved with him to Amsterdam. It is believed they collaborated on several works but Molenaer was much more prolific and once she had begun to have a family and children, Leyster produced fewer and fewer works of art. There is a very good biography about Leyster on Wikipedia. You might enjoy delving into the story about her lawsuits, how she gained her training and some controversy that continues to this day.
Nevertheless, her exquisite tulip helps us enter our spring season, hopefully soon!
Upcoming and current events:
- NEW Exhibit of Senior Art Student Show from Grace College at Warsaw City Hall. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. A new group of student work is now on exhibit. Free admission.
- Congratulations to Penny French Deal and Brenda Stichter, both wonderful artists from our area. Each of these ladies was recently announced as winners for the Indiana State competition held yearly by Secretary of State Mitchell. Their work will hang, along with other female artists, in the Indiana State House for the next year.
- LAA is now hosting “Hoosier Beauty, Photographs of Indiana,” a stunning exhibit of photographers Emily Deneve, Howard Shoemaker, and Arturo Yanez. The exhibit features work from tip to toe of Indiana. Open from 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, through April 30, at 302 E. Winona Avenue Warsaw.
- 4th Monday of each month, visit the new LAA Gallery in the evening for special programs. Call (574) 269-1101 for dates, subject of the program, and times.
- 2016 Honeywell Clark Gallery accepting entries from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 7, for themed Art competition. Theme: Indiana Bicentennial.
Don’t forget to pick up your May free issue of “glo” magazine to view the cover created by your author, Darla McCammon. Inside this issue a bit about Darla as well.
Contact your author/artist Darla McCammon at www.darlamc.com.