the Haagse Kunstkring since the war
Before 1950 past
by Nico Wijnen
From its inception to the present day, Haagse Kunstkring has been characterized by two features: it was founded (1891) as a protest against the rigidity in the practice of art; it wanted to be open to new currents; to act asa “driving force” with respect to them. It was the first organization in the Netherlands in which practitioners of all expressions of art united; because of this they mutually enriched and stimulated each other. A‘connecting‘ action thus.
Being “open” to new currents, repeatedly “pushing” for them, never meant denying or rejecting “achievements. On the contrary, it has always been typical of the Haagse Kunstkring to combine tradition and innovation. These characteristics are also visible when looking back at the period before and after 1950.
From Simon Vestdijk comes the term “Before and after the explosion,” which he used as a title for a collection of essays, lakes part poetry critiques. ‘After the explosion’ with him refers to the work of the experimentalists, ‘before the explosion’ so that of the rest. If we have chosen a variant of this title for our reflection, it is because in any retrospect one must be aware that every avant-gardeism, that is, even that promoted by an organization, must be seen in the context of a total event, in a historical perspective.
Well before “the explosion,” the conditions for this were already in place. It is therefore safe to say that the experiments and discoveries of the pioneers of the 1930s were partly responsible for a number of developments around the 1950s. With hindsight, the war appears to have accelerated these developments, because in those years a number of traditional (seeming) certainties were undermined, the ferocity of which had become clear.
In the thirties, a generation of young people grew up who acquired insights that would be reflected in the later organizational activities of some of them for Haagse Kunstkring. These insights, reinforced by the experiences of the years 1940-45, would make them open to new currents and they would act as ‘stimulators’ with respect to them.
We wanted to begin our retrospective by taking a look at the development in those years of graphic and photographic design. In the thirties, Gerrit Kiljan and Paul Schuitema taught at the Hague Academy of Visual Arts. Together with Piet Zwart, the other innovator, they overturned many sacred cows over the years. Thanks to the efforts of the first two, photography, for example, was included in the curriculum in The Hague, something that Zwart had not succeeded in doing at the Academy in Rotterdam. A student in The Hague at the time was Rico Bulthuis. Starting out as a graphic artist, he would move onto the writing path via many artistic detours (film, puppets). Already in those years he was a member of the Haagse Kunstkring, where he performed and was involved in discussions. After 1945 we see him again as a board member of the third section.
The circle in which Rico Bulthuis moved in the 1930s also included Don Vermeire and Nico Wijnen. Vermeire, son of the famous sculptor Jules Vermeire, was, like so many young artists in that period, at the same time engaged in the field of visual arts (painting especially), photography, film and theater. He was then a zealous propagandist for the group around the political-literary magazine “Links richten,” to which Paul Schuitema again contributed. There, as in many cultural-political fields, Nico Wijnen also moved. After 1945 both were highly active members of the board of Haagse Kunstkring.
Zwart, Kiljan and Schuitema, through their contacts with the more practically oriented world of architecture, had become aware of the possibilities of functioning not only theoretically but also directly in practice as visual artists. Through their publications, through the organization of exhibitions, through the application of photography in numerous new fields and through innovation in art education, they paved the way for the use of photography as an independent visual medium and also forced a breakthrough in other fields: painting, architecture, film, typography. A highlight of their labor was undoubtedly “Foto 37,” the first major photographic exhibition in the Netherlands. Organizers: Paul Schuitema, Eva Besnyo and Cas Oorthuys. To mark the occasion, a special issue was published of the magazine ‘Prisma der Kunsten’, organ of the Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheids kunst VANK, the Nederlandsche kring van Beeldhouwers NKB, the Schildersgenootschap Pulchri Studio, the Vereeniging tot bevordering der Grafische Kunst and with the cooperation of the Vereeniging Haagsche Kunstkring.
The changing design of the “New Photography” was very closely related to political engagement. We now want to examine in what way the social reality of the thirties found its mirror in literature, especially poetry. Here, too, a need for reality comes to the surface almost word for word. We are dealing with a “generation of poets who, after the ‘singing’ of their predecessors, claim to have moved on to speaking, and who have repeatedly proclaimed themselves to be sayers of reality. This characterization by Theun de Vries concerns a pur sang Hagenaar, who appears to have been of decisive influence for the generations to come after him: Mr. Martinus Nijhoff. This first and foremost through the essence of his own poetry, but also through his performance as one of our most gifted poetry critics. ‘Nijhoff, link between generations’.
Modern poetry aims to give an account of modern man’s specific own sense of life in his world. ‘To process reality and leave it reality, here is the aim of art … For a writer a tool means to have a personal language,’ writes Nijhoff himself. It should come as no surprise that subsequent generations of poets either more or less refer to him as the ‘discoverer of reality’ (Hoornik), or (and this applies especially to the ‘Fifties’) show affinities with him in various very essential aspects. Paul Rodenko is of the opinion, the latter even more so than the previous generation.
While Martinus Nijhoff was already a welcome guest at meetings of the Literary Department of the Haagsche Kunstkring in the years before 1940, in the 1950s his intense interest in the work of experimental young people will result in his playing an active part (partly because of his close ties with Bert Bakker, as well as with Paul Rodenko and Nico Wijnen) in the organization of a number of events held by the Kring.
On January 26, 1953, the poet Martinus Nijhoff died. The day before, on Sunday evening, he and Bert Bakker had determined the order of contributions for the first issue of ‘Maatstaf’, to be published shortly. On Saturday, April 25 of the same year, the poet Martinus Nijhoff was officially commemorated in ‘Diligentia’. Georgette Hagedoorn will recite from the bequeathed work, translations (the first time these are recited) of Menander’s ‘Het Scheidsgerecht’ and of Edgar Lee Masters: ‘Spoon River Anthology’. The introduction will be given by Jan Engelman. The literary department of the Haagse Kunstkring has been asked to organize this commemorative event; it is being held in part under its auspices.
Another Hagenaar is Ed. Hoornik, ‘Hagenaar’ by birth, turned convinced ‘Amsterdammer’, always knowing that his roots remained firmly fixed in The Hague. One need only read his novel ‘De vingerwijzing’ (1969) to know how ‘very’.
In 1951 he gave a lecture from his own work entitled ‘Uit gemis’ (From Absence) to members of Haagse Kunstkring in The Hague at the home of Circle member Ernst Overbosch. He would give this lecture several more times afterwards, elaborating and publishing it. In it he writes about his youth in The Hague, about ‘the Kolping house, a home for bachelors, where I lived for a short time as an eighteen-year-old (… ) I can see myself writing again, facing the wall, a homeless person, an outsider, who was thwarted in every community, but couldn’t do without one. .’.
In late 1929 Hoornik moved to Amsterdam, where he met Gerard den Brabander, among others. Some time later he made his debut with “social and other verses” under the telling title “Het keerpunt. His theme was ‘the drama of social reality, of the terrible contradictions, which awakened in us the hunger and thirst for social justice’ (‘Uit Gemis’). In 1939 he edited, together with Johan Daisne, Jan Schepens and Adriaan van der Veen, the one-yearly magazine ‘Werk’. In that same year he gives, together with Adriaan van der Veen, an evening for the Haagsche Kunstkring in which ‘The poets of ‘Werk’ are discussed. Among the audience was Menno ter Braak, who, incidentally, attended many evenings of the literary department of the Circle. Ter Braak’s affinity with Ed. Hoornik lay mainly in the area of their mutual concern about the goings-on in Nazi Germany, the flow of German refugees, including many writers.
Hoornik’s friendship with Nijhoff dates from 1939, who becomes for him the “discoverer of reality,” a reality he will soon come to know in its rawest form. The German armies also occupy the Netherlands. On August 19, 1943, the SD arrested Ed. Hoornik, together with Bert Bakker and Gerard den Brabander, when they had a meeting on the occasion of the publication of ‘Tweespalt’ with the illegal Mansardepers. Hoornik is transferred to Vught concentration camp and then to Dachau. Also imprisoned there are W. L. Brugsma, Nico Rost and Nico Wijnen. In ‘Uit Gemis’ he says about that time: ‘mind and soul were extinguished. As much as possible I sought isolation, the natural retreat of the poet. More and more alienated from reality, also after my return from Dachau, the series of verses ‘Ex tenebris’ ‘ came into being. In the spring of 1946, the poet read some of them at Haagse Kunstkring.
In 1948 we find Hoornik back in The Hague regularly, as a contributor to the Haagsch Dagblad. There he associates with Jac. Bloem, “Bom” Nijhoff, the bookseller and former resistance fighter Karel van Boeschoten, and Nico Wijnen. With the latter he also connects an interest in Indonesia, on the sovereignty of which the round-table conference was held in The Hague in August 1949. The Hague Art Circle then organized a number of events related to Indonesian culture, about which more later. In 1954, Ed. Hoornik with Bert Bakker and Gerrit Borgers compiled the joint issue of a nine-magazine “Nationale Snipperdag. Nico Wijnen made sure that at the bottom of each page of this is the name of a person who died in the war years.
In the fifties this contact Ed. Hoornik-Haagse Kunst kring most frequently, but as late as 1966 we find him there as a speaker, along with his fellow “Gids” editors at a meeting devoted to the Dutch literary magazine. On March 1, Ed. Hoornik dies of a heart attack, while preparations for the tribute on his 60th birthday are in full swing.
The years 1940-1945, the time of the German occupation.The first year it was still possible to cherish the illusion, although against one’s better judgment, that there would be no interference from the German side. Nevertheless, people were already more cautious. On November 22, 1941, the birth certificate of a dead child was signed. It bore the name: Kultuurkamer. With its establishment, in fact, the work of the Kring was also stopped. As far as possible, contact among the members themselves was maintained by organizing meetings at various members’ homes and continued throughout the war period. Many dove into the resistance. Don Vermeire used his photographic talent to make false identity cards. In 1951, when the exhibition “Printed in Oppression” – an exhibition of illegal writings – was held in the Hague Municipal Archives after the liberation, we found publications by Rico Bulthuis, rhyme prints illuminated by members of the Hague Art Society, including Livinus van de Bundt with needle engravings.
1945. Liberate the Netherlands! The horror of war is over. But therefore not forgotten, even if the 5th of May degenerated into a “national day off” for many. It was the Hague Art Circle where, until twenty-five years after the liberation, an impressive series of “May Commemorations” were repeatedly held by the artists on May 3rd, the day before the annual “Remembrance of the Dead”.
After the Liberation, the artist breathed in a changed climate. Still in 1945, the “Federation of Professional Associations of Artists,” an umbrella body of artists’ associations split into professional groups, was founded. In the resolution presented at the ‘Artists’ Congress’ held by the federation in The Hague in 1949, it is stated: ‘that art is the transposition, through the creative power of the artist, of the thought and emotional life of the people, which is also awakened from social life, and that therefore art is also a social phenomenon and the artist is a social worker’. The exploration of new possibilities, the attempt to arrive at a new design, a broader approach is visible in The Hague in various ways. As examples: the ‘Free Academy’ founded in 1947 and the ‘Art Study Center’.
The close ties between the Haagse Kunstkring and both the Free Academy and the “Art Study Center” have already been mentioned elsewhere. A large number of Kunstkring members played a role in the development of both institutes, and we may therefore examine in what way their views also took shape at the Kring and in turn helped to influence the cultural climate of The Hague.
Well, shortly after the end of World War II we find as the board of the third section: Albert Vogel, chairman; Piet Heus. secretary, succeeded in that position by Gerard Messelaar; Rits Kruissink, member. At the membership meeting of June 30, 1951, Vogel and Messelaar resigned and the board was constituted as follows: Antal Sivirsky, chairman; Nico Wijnen, secretary; Maud Cossaar, Rits Kruissink and Paul Rodenko members.
We already talked about the ‘artists’ congress’ held in 1949. On the eve of the “explosion. In the period mentioned above, 1950-1951, the explosion had already taken place. The name of the newly elected board member – but before his election already an active member of the HKK – may prove that the Haagse Kunstkring was involved in that explosion: Paul Rodenko.
Paul Rodenko was born in The Hague in 1920 to a Russian father and an Anglo-Dutch mother. He then lived alternately in Riga, Berlin and The Hague, studied Slavic languages in Leiden, and after the war psychology and ‘littérature comparée’ in Paris. He was editor of ‘Columbus’, then of ‘Podium’, then permanent contributor to ‘Maatstaf’. In 1951 his collection of poems was published, a selection from the poetry he had written since 1944. After his studies he worked for some time at the Dutch Emigration Service, where he worked not only with Nico Wijnen but also with Jettie Schaper, granddaughter of one of the ‘twelve apostles’ of the SOAP. With her he will marry on May 16, 1953. Wijnen was then “best man. The wedding party was held in the evening in the Pulchri Studio building, where the Art Circle then held society in common with Pulchri.
From 1951 to 1957 Paul Rodenko was a member of the board of the Third Ward, for a time even secretary. Until 1955 with Antal Sivirsky as chairman, afterwards under Bert Bakker. Bert Bakker, with whom, in 1954, his “New Griffels – Clean Slates” would appear. It is widely recognized: with that introduction he acted as a pioneer for the new direction in Dutch poetry. She, which would adorn itself with a name derived from the year – 1950 -, the year where in the summer issue of‘Podium ‘ Paul Rodenko’s ‘Poëziekroniek’ would open the door for the ‘Vijftigers’.
‘The Fifties,’ their appearance marks a period of innovation, of a seemingly revolutionary character, in many fields. Not only in literature, but also in the visual arts, theater, dance, music.
It would perhaps be most fair to consider the year 1951 as the ‘explosion’ year of the ‘Vijftigers’. It was then that A. A. M. Stols, a publisher in The Hague, published the collection ‘Atonaal’, with an anthology of experimental poets including Hans Lodeizen, Hans Andreus, Hugo Claus, Gerrit Kouwenaar, Luce bert, Simon Vinkenoog, Jan Elburg and Paul Rodenko. Through this anthology, the experimental poets were able to present themselves to the large reading public for the first time. Incidentally, due to absence abroad, publisher Sander Stols had appointed Jan-Peter Barth as agent at the time. Barth was a passionate and highly active member of the Circle, always willing to engage in in-depth discussions about poetry, preferably about “original” poetry. The close ties between Barth and Stols on the one hand and Rodenko on the other make the publication of ‘Atonaal’ in 1951 more understandable.
Of course, I do not want to argue in any way that the existence of the Haagse Kunstkring made the movement of the ‘Vijftigers’ possible, which would be madness. But it can be established, that in the shaping of the ‘Vijftigers’ a number of members of the Haagse Kunstkring played a role, often very important. The views of the ‘Vijftigers’ on poetic experimentation, however much they ‘own’ it, have partly taken shape in the climate of Haagse Kunstkring, a climate ‘open’ to new currents, which provides impulses for them which have a ‘driving’ effect. In 1948 Nico Wijnen took the initiative at the HKK for an evening of discussion on the subject of ‘Abstract Rhyme-less’ (painting-poetry), in which J. B. Charles, Paul Rodenko and Willem Hussem, among others, took part.
There is more. On Saturday evening, December 8, 1951, Mr. H. W. Muzerie held a lecture on the poet Paul Rodenko for the members of Pulchri and the Haagse Kunstkring in their society. From his lecture we extract the following eloquent passage: ‘We always hear complaints about our so-called button culture, by which they mean that our generation is falling more and more into passivity. Well, the work of artists like Rodenko forces us into mental activity. A valuable quality, characteristic of much modern literary and visual art’. A remarkable sound, which becomes all the more remarkable when one knows that H. W. Muzerie was the language teacher of the, by him highly esteemed, poet Hans Lodeizen, the “Perk” of the “Vijftigers. Surely the experimental poet, at least in The Hague, had their mentor.
On March 6, 1953, the HKK in cooperation with the ‘s-Gravenhaagsche Boekhandelaarsvereniging held a “Literary joust on modern poetry” in the Great Hall of Pulchri. Duelists were the authors J. B. Charles and A. L. Söteman, with M. van der Plas, Alfred Kossmann, Jan C. Elburg and Lucebert acting as seconds.
As an art month event, a literary forum: ‘Mentality or Quality’ is held by the HKK with the cooperation of the Hague Cultural Center on November 8, 1955 in the Rolzaal (Binnenhof). The discussion leader is Dr. J. Hulsker; contributors are Dr. Victor E. van Vriesland, Mr. Evert Straat, Gerrit Borgers and Gerrit Kouwenaar. The latter two side with mentality. Straat and Vriesland considered this unacceptable. The conclusion, however, was that the concepts of mentality and quality turned out to be far from pure opposites. Among those who took part in the discussion after the break was A. Roland Holst, who let it be known on that occasion that he liked some experimental verses and that some traditional ones bored him. As for the bad forms of the two groups, the difference seemed to him no greater than between an emetic and a soporific.
On November 29, 1955, in the atmospheric Louis XV room of Pulchri, the Kunstkring organized a literary evening, by wine and candlelight under the title “From A. Roland Holst to Hans Andreus. In his opening remarks, Bert Bakker notes that the intention is to show that a continuity can be observed in the poetry of the last fifty years, that differences in mentality are of little importance when it comes to absolute poetry. To make these statements true, Geerten Gossaert, A. Roland Holst, Herman van den Bergh, Ed. Hoornik and Hans Andreus read from their own work.
We have already talked about Rodenko’s “New Graces, Clean Slates,” which appeared in 1954. One proof that the collection has attracted attention is the exceptionally large print run, 27,500 copies, an extreme rarity in our country. In December 1956, also published by Bert Bakker, Paul Rodenko’s anthology ‘Me twee maten’ (Me two measures) appeared, with the subtitle ‘The core of fifty years of poetry, isolated and experimentally split’, the whole provided with analytical essays. The esteemed design of this volume was appreciated by Vestdijk as “one of the most fascinating ‘experiments’ (… ) to which an anthologist can resort in desperation.
But we were already writing 1956 and the post-fifties have already announced themselves, have already set themselves against the ‘Vijftigers’. Their voices resound especially in ‘Gard Sivik’ and their first name representatives are René Gijsen and Hans Sleutelaar. The latter a keen visitor to the society of the HKK/ Pulchri Studio. But also among the members of the Haagse Kunstkring these sounds are already being heard. Among others by Wim Gijsen, while in 1960 Bert Bakker publishes the anthology ‘Met andere woorden’, of which René Gijsen and Hans Sleutelaar are the compilers.
The new generation is signing up. Those from “after the explosion. It begins, as it often does, quietly. An introduction of new members. We owe to Ik Jan Cremer a description of such a performance evening from 1958, when Peter de Rubain, Jan Stolker, Wim Gijsen, Ger van Wijck, Hans Wesseling and Edith de Clerq read Zubli:
‘My first manifesto (dozens will appear after that), was written by a young bearded poet. I was fascinated when I was at a reading night of the Local Arts Circle where all kinds of young literary artists read their poems. ‘N girl with big breasts bulging out of her tight floral dress as endearing stanzas from her work about dead little birds and little boys doing dirty things. Next came HE (the poet who would later write manifesto No. 1 with me). In green pants, purple sweater, tangled hair and bare feet (Bare Feet! And it was still winter!!!) In sandals, he read his work. It sounded good. Even more I became fascinated by his wife, a girl without a bra in a long purple dress and with black silk stockings around her shapely calves. Thus the first treaty came about. While emptying various glasses, and filling them, the propaganda bill was assembled. And handed out at the exhibitions’.
The evening was a great success. One of the reviewers wrote: “Of course the Haagse Kunstkring is pre-eminently the forum where young poets can show how hard their Pegasus has been whinnying. In countless debate evenings, PEN discussion evenings and the like, young poets have had that opportunity in the Kring until today.
Already several times we mentioned Bert Bakker, and who says Bert Bakker, says ‘Maatstaf’. ‘The Hague,’ Circle president Antal Sivirsky once wrote, ‘was no longer the city of Couperus in the fifties, but the city of the Bert Bakkers.’ The Bert Bakkers are people who are on good terms with the government, but have different views. The Bert Bakkers toil for Dutch culture but do not antichamorate with magistrates. The Bert Bakkers have initiative, they inspire others, they stand in the breach. About the relationship ‘Maatstaf-Haagse Kunstkring he further shares: ‘We (the board members of the HKK) were friends with Bert; he didn’t exploit us, we exploited him. For a big event we crawled on his briefs. He exploited his relations for us and that was easy, because they were willing to return the favor. It almost goes without saying that he succeeded me as chairman of the literary department in 1953. And then the Haagse Kunstkring became even more Hague-like: the whole of the Netherlands flocked to it.’
At the appearance of the first issue of ‘Maatstaf’, April 1953, co-prepared by Nijhoff, Bert Bakker indicates the aims of the journal: ‘Maatstaf’ will determine itself primarily to publish original and translated poetry, narrative prose and essayistic work. However, it will not neglect the cultural, social and societal phenomena related to literature’.
The connection between the Haagse Kunstkring and ‘Maatstaf’ was clearly another ‘many-headed’ one: Bert Bakker himself, his co-editor Wim Gijsen, in addition to a number of regular contributors to ‘Maatstaf’, from Paul Rodenko, J. B. Charles, Nico Wijnen, Sem Dresden (also chairman of the literary department for a while) to Ellen Warmond and Rudi Cornets de Groot.
Countless ‘Maatstaf evenings were held with the aim of bringing literature to the public. In practice, however, their purpose would prove more far-reaching and their effect broader. Spectacular was the so-called ‘evening of the generations’ on December 2, 1953, in which A. Roland Holst, C. J. Kelk, Prof. Dr. W. Gs. Hellinga, Bertus Aatjes, J. B. Charles and Ellen Warmond. An evening later described by Ben van Eysselsteyn as “glorious. A number of the already mentioned May commemorations also took place as part of ‘Maatstaf’.
‘Maatstaf’ aimed from the outset to promote ‘engagement,’ a word that would only acquire its fashionable connotations in the 1960s and would be in danger of wearing out, of losing value through frequent use. But in fact, “engagement” has always been there among artists. The way social events were “lived,” reacted to, depended on the time, the vehemence with which it came across. A Paul Schuitema, a Gerrit Kiljan, a Piet Zwart were consciously reforming society. Nijhoff on the other hand, this “walker in reality,” was more “thrust by a consistent poeticism” than “by a consistent social thinking,” especially intuitively social. Hoornik for all that was socially critical, although he confessed after his imprisonment in Dachau: ‘The gap between what is commonly called community and poet can never be bridged, not even in the socialist society, to which I have always latched on.’
However much each commitment is personally nuanced, it is never solely focused on the events of the moment, it is always laced with a premonition of times to come, a premonition that can sometimes take apocalyptic forms. Futurology, the science of foresight, has been around since the 1960s.
But already on December 6, 1954, the Haagse Kunstkring in cooperation with the already mentioned “Exercise Breeds Art” organized a meeting at which Dr. Robert Jungk spoke on the topic “Can machines still be tamed? This renowned Austrian-American writer and journalist was one of the few journalists, who at the time, was allowed to visit the American centers for the manufacture of atomic energy. His book on the subject, “The future has already begun,” itself had the effect of an atomic explosion. That it experienced a circulation of tens of thousands of copies, that it appeared in a dozen languages, is only the material expression of the fascinating, the alarming effect that emanated from this book.
Among the many people who came to listen to Jungk were many old friends of his, German and Austrian emigrants living in the Netherlands, who like him had fled Nazi terror. People who had experienced at first hand that wrongs can grow desperately, that prejudice can become murderous, that taboos can block all progress, and therefore need to be unmasked. Recognizing the taboo, fighting it, breaking it, that too is commitment.
The avant-garde of the fifties, visual artists and writers launched an attack on the “taboo,” whether in the form of acquired aesthetic views or an established social order. The writers’ protest was expressed, among other things, in the frank treatment of erotic and sexual themes that were still taboo at the time. Through their ‘language revolution’ the ‘Vijftigers’ helped to prepare the emancipation movement of the sixties. Apart from the “Vijftigers,” in the same period, as early as 1948, Anna Blaman had already explored in her “Lonely Adventure” the relationships of man-woman-mistress, and the stages of love-passion-hate, without caring about taboos. Consequently, it generated a scandal.
In 1956, the board of the literary department of the Haagse Kunstkring asked Anna Blaman to participate in a literary forum on the topic “Decency and Indecency in Literature. The other members were Jeanne van Schaik-Willing, Alfred Kossmann and Jos Panhuysen. Discussion leader was Sem Dresden. According to the ‘minutes’ of a board meeting held afterwards, approximately the following was argued: ‘The literary department of the HKK, realizing that Anna Blaman creates such situations in her stories, “that thereby weak points in society are revealed, with the result that the reading public becomes uneasy and therefore sensitive to protest, tried through this forum and the publicity surrounding it to bring about a change in mentality among the public, to make them take a stand against the “decency rabble”‘.
In 1957, Anna Blaman was awarded the P. C. Hooft Prize, for her entire body of work.
Constantly the avant-garde character of the Haagse Kunstkring in the field of the arts finds its counterpart in its commitment to social and societal events. We refer here to the great attention paid in the Circle in the 1970s to the events in Vietnam. But also on earlier occasions important national or international events were addressed within the HKK. Thus on December 10, 1952, a special “Spanish evening” was organized, at which – in the translation by Albert Helman – songs and poems originated in the Spanish civil war were sung by Henriëtte Sala and recited by Maud Cossaar.
On December 27, 1949, Indonesia’s independence was a fact. It is now almost unimaginable that this country’s becoming independent caused so much pain here at the time and created sharp contrasts among the country’s own Dutch population. It took courage to advocate working together in freedom, preserving and strengthening cultural ties with this country. The Haagse Kunstkring was among those courageous. Now there had always been an interest in “Insulinde” at the Circle, although that attention was mainly focused on the visual arts. Furthermore, in the twenties a sensitive poet like Noto Soeroto (1888-1951) was a welcome guest. In addition to poems, he also wrote “From Domination to Self-Regulation. Among the Circle members who maintained close ties with Indonesians after the war were Don Vermeire and Nico Wijnen, the latter of whom was secretary of the Netherlands-Indonesia Association in the 1950s. Together with this association, a meeting was held on October 3, 1953, on “Contemporary Indonesian Painters. Later, in the same context, Breton de Nijs and Wim Braasem spoke about modern Indonesian poetry and folk poetry, respectively. At the same time, since 1949, Ed. Hoornik worked at Sticusa (Foundation for Cultural Cooperation with Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles).
What was said above about Indonesia applies mutatis mutandis to Suriname and the Antilles. Even before 1940, a Cola Debrot, often accompanied by his lovely wife, the dancer Estelle Debrot-Reed, as well as the fierce Surinamese Albert Helman, author of ‘Zuid-Zuid-West’, were welcome guests at the Circle. Furthermore, although not born there, yet with a connection to this part of the world, Constant van Wessem, author of ‘300 Negro Slaves’. (*the book on slavery with that title reflects the language of the time, but would be worded differently today) We will also meet them again in the Circle after the war, when they are working in The Hague. There we also sometimes meet the politician Dr. M.F. da Costa Gomez in the society after a “press conference. In the sixties the Kring repeatedly held Antillean evenings.
It was primarily Wim Schulte Nordholt who addressed the problem of ethnic discrimination in the Kring, not in an agitative tone, but rather in a contemplative, analytical, nuanced way. He emphasized what was happening in the U.S.A. In 1956 his book “The People Walking in Darkness” was published. In the Circle, he held a causation on it. His book had not yet appeared, or the tragedy of Little Rock in 1957, the sit-ins of 1960 and the freedom rides of 1961 underscored its topicality.
In his book, Schulte Nordholt noted how extremely important music is to African Americans. Consequently, he often illustrated his causations with spiritual songs and gospel music from the African-American tradition. A separate evening was also devoted to this.
At the conclusion of this chapter, one more should certainly be mentioned: William Edward Burghardt Dubois. Schulte Nordholt wrote about him in his book as the leader of a new consciousness, a new rationalism, the man who gave the rebuttal to the idea of white supremacy. On Nov. 11, 1958, Haagse Kunstkring would feature this world-renowned African-American scholar. The author of “The Souls of Black Folk” and “A Litany for Atlanta,” founder of the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” and founder of the Pan African Movement, was able to take a trip abroad for the first time in 1958 after a long time, eleven years, when the McCarthy terror had finally been halted. The event at the Circle was titled “I Saw How Black I Was. Rosey E. Pool recited African-American poetry. From the unfortunately indisposed Paul Robeson, some songs were heard that had been specially recorded for the occasion. Then the 90-year-old Dubois himself entered the pulpit. Proudly he spoke of the rights he had won, bitterly about the still ongoing humiliations, the continuing injustices. In pain over the contradictions among the discriminated ethnic groups themselves. He did not hide his hopes for a new society on leftist foundations. His word was harsh and it was not properly understood by all listeners. They heard only the outside of the word and not its soul. They heard the form, indeed not always happily molded by the 90-year-old, but what that form represented eluded them. But the majority, the artists among the listeners, recognized the creativity, saw the sculptor of the black people creating.
When people talk about the “image” of The Hague, they sometimes like to forget that this was also the city where, in 1872, one of the most important congresses of the first Socialist International was held for a week, the city where Vincent van Gogh received his first lessons in painting, had his most deeply felt human commitment, where, impressed by the miserable conditions in which the working people lived, he decided to tackle that bleak reality with pencil and brush. The Hague was also the city where in 1920, under the presidency of Sigmund Freud, the important 6th Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association was held, and where two years later, 1922, Kurt Schwitters, from the Art Circle, supported by Vilmos Huszar, Nelly and Theo van Doesburg, would undertake his “Dada” field trip. It is clear that in the socio-cultural climate of such a city, an organization that holds the avant-gardist in its banner will always again strive for a social freedom that provides the space to realize this avant-gardism.
The Hague is the city in which Carel Vosmaer as ‘Flanor’ rebelled again and again against obstinate cqnservatism and boredom, it is a city where a Louis Couperus in ‘The Books of Little Souls’ depicts the social changes of his time in the life-satisfaction that demolishes his characters from within. It is also the city where, in the thirties, F. Bordewijk with ‘Blokken’ and ‘Bint’ became one of the first champions of the new pragmatism in literature, prose in steel and concrete construction.
Bordewijk had been a member of the Kunstkring since 1940. On April 1, 1954, he was honored on the occasion of his seventieth birthday at a meeting organized in cooperation with the Hague Booksellers as part of the Book Week. On this occasion he was offered honorary membership. Bordewijk himself delivered one of his lucid speeches at the conclusion. The tribute appeared to give him a “sense of unreality. For art and especially literature is less the product of development and diligence, to which one might appeal, than of a gift. This gives the artist cause for modesty.’ And about the prose being written, he said, “We are still too much attached to word art, fine form and interesting style, and too little to the exciting, captivating and original in our narrative prose.
Saturday, Nov. 23, 1951, Dr. Victor E. van Vriesland takes center stage on the occasion of his 65th birthday and as an introduction to the publication of his collected critical and essayistic prose entitled “Research and Discourse. The title of the evening is “Conversation on Victor E. van Vriesland,” and Bert Bakker chairs “the conversation. Participants are J. B. Charles, Sem Dresden and Gerrit Kamphuis, while Van Vriesland, of course, is not silent. A quote from a ‘press voice’ about this evening: ‘Mr. J. B. Charles was quite critical of the figure of this ‘conversation’: for who are we to judge this Victor Emanuel, who is neither from Italy nor from Friesland? ‘Surely he is not on trial,’ he exclaimed, going (afterwards) to sing a poem of his, though a singer is totally lost in him.
In February 1959, the Circle honored Louis de Bourbon, last romantic with the big, generous heart. Three months later, in May 1959, it was the turn of Fie Carelsen, who was then installed as an honorary member. Appointed “member of merit” on April 27, 1960 was Ir. J. L. M. Feber, a man of letters as well as a former alderman of The Hague, co-founder of “Van onze tijd” (1899-1920) and “De Beiaard” (1916-1926), among others. Credit where credit is due.
However, it was by no means only literary experts who received the attention of the Circle. On June 3, 1955 there was a lecture by the architect H. Th. Wijdeveld, in which he summarized various subjects in his own fascinating way under the title: “From my life, the battle with the idea. Wijdeveld, who was a member of the Art Circle of The Hague from 1907 to 1930, was very active in the first years of the Circle. At the end of his talk, many recalled those days.
Attention is also given to a pioneer of Dutch musical life, former conductor of the Residentie-Orkest (1910- 1935), honorary member of the Haagse Kunstkring: Dr. Peter van Anrooy. Known as the composer of the virtuoso Piet Hein Rhapsody, only few, however, know his piano quintet and his folk song arrangements for piano, which were on the program of the Thé Musical that the Kring dedicated to him on January 26, 1954, with Van Anrooy himself playing his folk song arrangements. None, who experienced this evening, will be able to forget it. Not only because of the excellent musicianship, but especially because of the striking figure of Peter van Anrooy himself, as he conducted the ‘Thé Musical’, outrageously vital, speaking somewhat nasally, with loose, very thoughtful remarks, and at the same time being educational.
The music department of the Kring was always one of the most active. Chris Verhoog outlined all its history up to the war. The picture of its activity after 1945 may be shown by mentioning some names of musicians, who performed for it over the years: John van Kesteren, Cora Canne Meyer, Jo Vincent, Ellen MacGillavry, Jaap and Haakon Stotijn, Geza Frid, Thomas Magyar, Lola Bobesco, Jacques Genty, Roland Puig, Herman Schey, Henriëtte Sala, Max Orobio de Castro, Sam Swaap. A department that flourished and grew under the chairmanship of Paul Niessing, not only a skilled professional, but also one with a sense of organization. A department that, when Theo Olof stepped in with the entire Residentie Orkest line-up, gained in versatility and quality.
What is true of all fields of artistic practice is also true of music: it has entered a new era. The Viennese school, Schoenberg’s dodecaphony. lves, tonal and atonal elements, incorporation of folk music; Satie, ironization of the ivory tower; Stockhausen, Boulez, Nono, the avant-garde. Once again the HKK Music Department finds the right board members among the younger generation: Chris Verhoog and Otto Ketting. Both always consciously sought forms of music that engage the creativity of the audience, so that what is performed is “experienced” by them, engages them.
One of the main objectives of the Kring was traditionally the cooperation between the sections. This was most often expressed in the organization of the various events, the already mentioned May commemorations, tributes. An example of cooperation, was the February 1957 “Het uur explosief,” a selection of poetry from Dutch, English, French and German avant-garde literature, presented by Hélène Oosthoek in experimental form: “signs” by Willem Hussem, becoming mobile in light effects; electronic sound decor.
There was cooperation not only among the members and departments of the Circle among themselves, but also with other organizations, because the Circle was always keen to increase the number of cooperation partners. There were (and still are) many.
The close contact that existed in the fifties with the ‘Rotterdam Circle of Authors’, the core of the Rotterdam Art Circle, of which Anna Blaman was president, should also be seen in this context of the search for cooperation partners. Visits and meetings were made back and forth. Regular attendees were Anna Blaman, Alfred Kossmann and Adriaan van der Veen. Adriaan van der Veen was also for some time a member of the board of the literary department of Haagse Kunstkring. The cooperation with the Belgian Embassy, which after 1945 was very close, should also be mentioned here.
At numerous meetings, whether organized in cooperation with other organizations or not, the Haagse Kunstkring sought to demonstrate that the Dutch-language literature of “North” and “South” is indeed “one” literature. Consequently, he saw a whole row of Dutch-speaking Belgian writers in his midst: Raymond Brulez, Gerard Walschap, Marnix Gijsen, Karel Jonckheere, Hubert Lampo, Maria Rosseels, Gaston Durnez, Jan Walravens, Hugo Claus, Jos Vandeloo, Paul de Wispelaere, Weverberg, Jef Geeraerts. A series of events that would find its crown in the 1968 exhibition “The Dutch-language book and magazine in Belgium.
As much as possible, the Art Circle has always strived to be “instructional. Just a few examples, because it has happened frequently and in the most diverse forms.
On March 3, 1952, a discussion was held between the publishers (also among themselves) Bert Bakker and G. A. van Oorschot and the author W. F. Hermans on the subject of ‘May publishers of literary periodicals censor?’ Van Oorschot, figuratively speaking with his right foot on the collected work of Menno ter Braak and with his left on Du Perron’s complete oeuvre, argued: ‘If I even hear the word censorship, I already get angry. Censorship leads to publication bans, bread theft and a little further to imprisonment and the rest. We have freedom of the press and any censorship is out of the question’.
Instructive evenings of all kinds followed. On Sept. 23, 1952 on “Literature and Criticism” (participants: Prof. Dr. N.A. Donkersloot, Adriaan van der Veen, Jos Panhuysen and Corn. Basoski). On December 19, 1952 Paul Citroen on ‘The emergence of new forms in painting’. In 1953 the French literator Michel Carrouges spoke on “Le surréalisme et la mystique du sur homme,” in which he explained that surréalisme should be considered not so much as a school in painting or a direction in poetry, but as a framework of intelligence. A short year later, on January 21, 1954, Pierre H. Dubois spoke before the Haagse Kunstkring on “The author, his motives, task and justification,” in which, in addition to his general view of literature, he gave analyses of his own work (especially An Attitude in Time).
Focused attention to the stage has always been there within the Kring. Before the war an Albert Vogel Sr guaranteed this, while names like Willem Rooyaards, Arnold Willem Stelwagen and Eduard Verkade speak for themselves. In the thirties Eduard Veterman, director, set designer, playwright was active in the Kring, speaking among other things on ‘Designs for theater, stage and cinema’. Cor van der Lugt Melsert was an equally welcome guest at the Kunstkring in his years in The Hague.
How much the Kring is also on familiar footing with the young theater in its most experimental forms is shown by one of the most interesting initiatives, which were taken by Kunstkring members: the performances of the group “Scarabee.
In addition to the experiments, of course, there must always be tentative probing, the necessary site operations, which must precede an operation-future. In the Circle, this usually took the form of forums. In that on “How do we arrive at a living theater of our own soil” (August 7, 1954) participated Ary den Hartog, Paul Steenbergen, Jan Retèl, Wim Vesseur, Karl Guttmann, Ed. Hoornik and Bert Voeten. Hoornik remarked that a Dutch theater that does not, of its own accord, feel the need to present Dutch drama is in danger of degenerating into a virtuoso production apparatus.
The forum “Aspects of dramaturgy” (Nov. 12, 1954), like the previous one held in cooperation with Het Nederlands Toneelverbond, included Ary den Hartog, Mary Dresselhuis, Anna Blaman, Ben van Eysselsteyn, Dr. W. H. Pos, Johan de Meester and Fred Engelen. Anna Blaman discussed, among other things, the introverted nature of the novel and the extroverted nature of the play, explaining at length the difference between novel dialogue and stage dialogue. De Meester remarked that the Dutch mentality leaves little room for the experimental, in response to which Joris Diels rejoined in saying that in the Netherlands one can play anything … because the public is so uncritical. Among those interested in the audience was also Eduard Verkade “still going strong.
An International Symposium on National Theatre was held on April 20, 1956, attended by Kenneth lreland, general manager of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and Wilhelm Michael Mund, intendant of the Theater der Jugend, Remscheid, among others.
A few years earlier, the Kunstkring had two other foreigners in its midst. After performances at the Haagse Comedie, then Peter Sjaroff, the “gray eminence.” and Erwin Piscator, the creator of “Das Politische Theater,” sought out the society of the Kunstkring as a stopping place.
Later the best contacts would be made with Erik Vos and Kees van Iersel. Under the direction of the latter, a public performance featuring no less than three original one-act plays by Dutch authors was given by the Experimental Toneelgroep “TEST” on Friday, September 23, 1960, at the Kurhaus Pavilion:
The House by Sybren Polet
The Signal Pole by Paul Rodenko
The Button by Harry Mulisch
In it performed: Fien Berghegge, Shireen Stroker, Henk van Ulsen and Johan Walhain. The performance was under the auspices of the Nederlands Toneelverbond, the Nederlands Centrum of the International Theater Institute and the Association Haagse Kunstkring.
Attention also, focused attention on other facets of theater. Before 1940, after 1945. Before 1940 we find as great recitalist Albert Vogel Sr with readings from the works of Dante, Heine, Shakespeare, Hegenscheidt, Peguy, and of course … Couperus. Albert Vogel Jr inherited it, as it were, as hereditary cultural baggage. Furthermore, we will hear them again several times at the Art Circle after 1945, Nel Oosthout and the very youthful Maud Cossaar. Willy Corsary provided a light touch with cabaret songs. On the other hand, on the eve of the war, loaded, brought as a song, as a recitation, as a dance: Lin Jaldati with ‘Jewish art’.
After 1945 a whole row of names, guests and members. Among those members especially again Albert Vogel, Maud Cossaar, Hélène Oosthoek, a trio that will also hold board positions. Some highlights:
Albert Vogel: His portrayal of Bolts/Foreman: “Beatrice. His Chekhov rendition. In 1954 his ‘Hamlet’. present in the hall, he would later write about the interpretation with admiration: Cor van der Lugt Melsert. Further, a whole range of renderings: Hans Christian Andersen, Heinrich Heine, Rainer Maria Rilke, Gustave Flaubert, Herman Gorter, Aart van der Leeuw, Leopold, Marsman, Martinus Nijhoff, A. Roland Holst and … Louis Couperus.
Maud Cossaar: Enjoys reading from an author’s work, if the author is present in person. Brings literature not only aesthetically, but in an educational framework, giving more relief to the work of art. Evenings include Guillaume van der Graft, Raymond Brulez, Bordewijk, Theun de Vries, Willem Hussem, Paul Rodenko, Nico Wijnen. Also great attention to the work of young poets just starting out. Giving them more self-confidence.
Hélène Oosthoek: Highlights, her playing with “masks. Her performance of Euripides’ ‘lphigeneia,’ in which she played seven roles. Her already mentioned ‘The hour explosive’. She also paid great attention to the young poets.
Puppet theaters: shadow puppets – hand puppets – mairionettes
Before the war, already on March 8 and 9, 1924, performed at the Haagse Kunstkring: Frans ter Gast with the shadow play “The Punished Greed. Van der Gast performed the art of shadow play to the highest conceivable perfection. He was the last king of the glorious lineage of shadowplayers.
After the war, we see Don and Ly Vermeire performing in the Kring. Nico Wijnen, Rico Bulthuis write lyrics for them. Vermeire and his wife had particular success with their performance of the puppet opera “Die Kluge,” which was praised by the press as a “Gesamtkunstwerk.
The Hague and dance. There was plenty of interest in The Hague Art Circle for this as well. The coming of age of the Dutch art of dance, the Dutch Ballet. Gaining an international reputation is, from the nature of this art – the requirements of a dance studio, large stages, etc. – naturally something on which Haagse Kunstkring did not and could not exert any influence. There was, however, as always, focused attention on the art of dance.
Before 1940, for example, we find a “Soirée moderne” mentioned as early as December 15, 1918, where Jaap Kool presents ideas about modern dance art and Grit Hegesa shows “Expressionist dances. On January 25, 1920, Raden Mas Jodjana thrills the members of the Circle with his refined Indian dance art. In 1920, on February 25 as well as March 5, none other than Peter Leoneff gives dance recitals here. In 1937, when the “honorary evening: Wilem van Konijnenburg” was held, Darja Collin danced there at his request. And on March 23, 1940, barely a month later when the war raged over our country, Han Rijnbeck, one of the few dancers in the Netherlands who, thanks to her great expressiveness, manages to give poems plastic form, performs for the Kring. After 1945 she again performed for the Kunstkring. Then there was the “Hague Dance Trio,” an initiative of Jennie Simonis, which specialized in “Short Arabesques” to use a Couperian term). The trio collaborated June 5, 1954 in the evening “The Joyful Muses,” Jennie Simonis, now active in Australia as a dance teacher, gained international fame there. Besides presenting the dance potential present locally, there was equal attention to what was developing on a “national” level. When a fire destroyed all the property and assets of the Scapino Ballet, a benefit evening was held in collaboration with Pulchri, the HCC and the Academy on February 23, 1954, which became a great success thanks to the cooperation of actress Willie Haak, chansonnière Georgette Hagedoorn, guitarist Koos Tiggers and the Vermeire’s puppet theater.
In later years there was constant contact with the National Ballet, then called Het Nederlands Ballet. This had moved to The Hague in the early fifties “because this city gives us an important subsidy. Sonia Gaskell will therefore explain her work for us several times.
If we always stated that in every period of the history of the Haagse Kunstkring there was a piece of development built into the unfolding activities, this is related to the fact that those activities were clearly based on certain motivations, which were characteristic of the organizational structure of the Haagse Kunstkring in the years after 1945. Not all of them will have been consciously recognized as motivations for action, which does not, however, take away from the fact that they were therefore the continuing motivations for action.
this 1977 edition of Haagse Kunstkring work collected came about with special support from:
Carnation Fund ‘s-Gravenhage
Dr. H. P. Berlage Foundation
Jan-Campert Foundation
Prince Bernhard Fund
Jacob Maris Foundation