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Jan Schoonhoven: ‘Order remains, of course’

We mainly associate Jan Schoonhoven with Nul, the art movement that was founded in 1960 by Schoonhoven and kindred spirits such as Jan Henderikse, Henk Peeters and Armando.

The movement ceases to exist around 1965, but Zero does not disappear from the face of the earth. For Jan Schoonhoven in particular, the breeding ground has been laid. He will remain faithful to the principles of Nul until the end of his career as an artist.

Looking for his own style
Because of his talent for drawing, Schoonhoven attends the art academy in The Hague from 1930 to 1934. He becomes captivated by Paul Klee’s work and produces work in Klee’s style since his academy period. In the meantime, he is diligently looking for his own style. He draws a lot, even during the war years, but also throws a lot away. This is strikingly apparent from an anecdote told by Sandra van Beek (2014) and quoted by Roos van der Lint in a article for the magazine De Groene Amsterdammer (Van der Lint, 2015). When Schoonhoven visits a potential buyer with a folder full of drawings, and the buyer does not like the first drawing, Schoonhoven tears it up on the spot. Subsequently, the two walk through the entire folder until there is no drawing left, and Schoonhoven finally discards the folder as well.

Schoonhoven: civil servant and artist
Jan Schoonhoven isn't able to live from his art. Shortly after the war, in 1946, he finds a job at the Central Buildings Department of the PTT (the national telephone company). He will remain employed there until his retirement in 1979. His artistry takes place in his spare time.
On at least two occasions, Schoonhoven’s artistic activity clashes with his job as a civil servant at the PTT. In 1967, after winning an important art prize, a TV crew invades his workplace in The Hague. This results in Schoonhoven being reprimanded by his employer for the unannounced commotion.
In the same year, a real clash comes when his employer reads in the newspaper how civil servant Schoonhoven has stripped off all his clothes, except for his socks, in front of the then eighteen-year-old artist Yayoi Kusama. Van der Lint (2015) quotes from a report in Het Vrije Volk, a Dutch newspaper: “A Japanese-American lady is wandering through the Netherlands who likes to paint people of the male sex in public, preferably at an art event, where subsidizing authorities are also present.” The happening takes place twice: first at the Galerie Orez in The Hague, and shortly afterwards at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, on the occasion of the opening of an art fair. In De Groene Amsterdammer, Van der Lint (2015) gives a juicy report of what can be seen in the film images of the Schiedam manifestation: “Schoonhoven's tall, lean body is eagerly turned towards little Kusama. With a dot on his forehead, he never loses sight of her as the crowd moves around him to the beat of the music. ‘Shame, shame, I will immediately call the mayor!’ the alderman would have shouted as he left the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.”
Because of all the noise, Schoonhoven misses a promotion at the PTT.
Kusama paints Schoonhoven in Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, 1967
photo Nederlands Fotomuseum

From constructions to reliefs
In an article in Ons Erfdeel, Erik Slagter notes that the influence of Klee in Schoonhoven’s work remains visible until 1956, as in ‘The red city’, where squares and triangles still represent houses and towers (Slagter, 1994). Schoonhoven then begins to experiment with constructions made of corrugated cardboard and papier-mâché, initially for his son. Gradually, these constructions transform into the austere, monochrome white reliefs with repetitive patterns with which Schoonhoven will reap fame and for which enormous amounts are nowadays paid.
Schoonhoven’s first white-painted relief dates from 1960. Most of his subsequent reliefs are austere, white-painted rectangles with horizontal and vertical lines that enclose recessed areas of equal size. Light and shadow play an important role in the visualization.

Jan Schoonhoven, R62-1, 1962
Wall paint, papier-mâché and cardboard on hardboard, 100 × 80 cm
From Informeel to Nul
All this takes shape in the period 1957-1960, a period in which Schoonhoven founds the Informele Groep with Jan Henderikse, Henk Peeters and Armando, among others. Bram Bogart, who lives in Paris, known for his pasty, abstract work, is also involved in the group. The Informele Groep strives to dissolve recognizable forms in matter and to refrain from figuration.
Around 1960 the group continues as Groep Nul. The aims of the Informele Groep are being put into practice even more radically by Nul. The group is looking for an objective art that has been stripped of any emotional value and in which the presence of the artist as a person has been erased as completely as possible. Monochrome and repetitive patterns are essential characteristics of the Nul art.

Ink drawings
Schoonhoven is strong in establishing international contacts, which leads to exhibitions at home and abroad for himself and his kindred spirits. In 1967 he wins the second prize at the Bienal de São Paulo, leading to international recognition. About ten years later – he has reached retirement age – he starts making drawings, mainly in ink, in which he continues to develop his fascination for repetitive patterns.
To further emphasize objectivity, Schoonhoven no longer gives his works of art a title, but only letters and numbers: a T for drawing and R for relief, followed by a year and a serial number.
 
Jan Schoonhoven, T82-80, 1982
Ink on paper, 50.1 x 32.8 cm
Collection Olla Art
In De Groene Amsterdammer, Van der Lint (2015) notes: “With new materials in his hand, the bamboo brush and the Chinese pen, the lines become looser, freer.” And, citing from an interview with Schoonhoven in NRC Handelsblad, a Dutch newspaper: “I especially like that Chinese brush. It loosens up a bit, it starts to flutter a bit, the line becomes a bit more tachistic. But order remains, of course.”
Jan Schoonhoven, T85-25, 1985
Ink on paper, 49.5 x 32.5 cm
Collection Olla Art
References
Beek, S. van (2014). Ik een nieuwe Mondriaan? Ik ben een ouwe Schoonhoven! Leven en werk van de ambtenaar kunstenaar J.J. Schoonhoven [Me a new Mondriaan? I'm an old Schoonhoven! Life and work of the civil servant artist J.J. Schoonhoven]. Zoetermeer: Lecturium.
Lint, R. van der (2015). Kiezen en delen: leven en kunst van orde en soberheid [Choosing and sharing: life and art of order and sobriety]. De Groene Amsterdammer, in collaboration with Museum Prinsenhof Delft and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, theme supplement Jan Schoonhoven: vrijheid binnen grenzen [Jan Schoonhoven: freedom within borders], 21 October 2015, pp. 4-7. 
Slagter, E. (1994). De stille kunst van Jan Schoonhoven: orde en regelmaat om de chaos te onderdrukken [The silent art of Jan Schoonhoven: Order and regularity to suppress chaos]. Ons Erfdeel 37 (1994), pp. 759-761.


 

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