Haagse Kunstkring work collected 1977 / third section Fine Arts

From octogenarians to fifties

by Albert Vogel

The character of an artists’ association and the cultural climate of a city are not primarily determined by the big names, the famous artists who left their mark on the cultural life of their time.

Certainly, much attention will be paid in this exhibition to those pioneering figures to which the Art Circle has fortunately not lacked in the course of its existence, but in addition, the character, the atmosphere, the content, too, of the various meetings are often determined by artists of less dominant caliber, among whom sometimes important talents who often, because of their personality structure or due to external circumstances and currents of time, did not come to great prominence or became somewhat forgotten. Their activity in the association life of the HKK was often so important that considerable attention is rightly paid to these figures in this exhibition as well.

The fine arts department, as it was officially called, had started in 1891, with no less enthusiasm than that of painting, and boasted some undisputed highlights.

Unlike the visual arts in particular, where exhibition catalogs and photographs can still give a good impression of what has been accomplished over the years, it is much more difficult to conjure up an image of the precise atmosphere and quality of a literary gathering. Of course, we know the names of the writers and elocutionists who spoke over the years, but the tone of their exchanges of views, which of all things was probably the most important, is difficult to reconstruct.

When we think of the literature of the late 19th century, the word TACHTIG naturally immediately comes to mind. Even though the collapse of the Nieuwe Gids in 1891, the year in which the Circle and the literary department were founded, was not far away (in that same year Lodewijk van Deyssel wrote his famous article ‘The Death of Naturalism’), the Tachtigers themselves set the tone in literary Holland for many years to come. Eighty, however, was primarily an Amsterdam affair. In The Hague, Louis Couperus and Marcellus Emants were the main literary figures. Couperus, it turned out later, did not like the Kunstkring much; moreover, in the same year, after his marriage to his niece Elisabeth Baud, he settled for some time in the Gooi region and then began a life of traveling and trekking through Europe. His fame, by the way, was not uncontroversial and was actually based mainly on “Eline Vere,” published in 1889.

Consequently, it was not him but Marcellus Emants whom the members of the Kring’s provisional board looked to for the establishment of a literary department. Emants (1848-1923) had already played an active role in The Hague art life in the late 1970s as editor of the monthly magazine “De Banier,” which appeared from 1875 to 1880 and may in some respects be called a precursor of the Nieuwe Gids.

The magazine’s main aim was to promote Wagner’s ideas, so it was not surprising that Emants joined a society whose motto was the mutual fraternization of the arts. The fine arts department developed its first activities at the so-called art evenings in which all departments participated. Writers, poets, recital artists and actors as well as literary experts could join the third section.

Over the years, dance, mime and film also made room. Even before the first art evening, Emants himself made a contribution in the form of the text of a shadow play. For this, the painter P. de Josselin de Jong, co-founder of the Haagse Kunstkring, who was very active in those early years, had created the shadows. These shadow shows returned with clock-like regularity in the history of the Kring and grew into a true tradition. Here the name of Frans ter Gast should be mentioned, who gave countless performances for the Kring in the twenties and thirties. Here too the various arts often worked together, as in 1931 in Ter Gast’s shadow play on Bolt’s poem “Beatrice,” for which Jos Vrancken wrote the music.

For Emants, the years of his presidency of the Literature Department were a productive time. During this period he wrote his “A Bequeathed Confession,” which appeared in 1894. The Arts Circle received the scoop on two of his short plays.

Where the emancipation of the Art of Drama had only just begun in the Netherlands (and was primarily in the hands of the erudite and literarily gifted Jan C. de Vos), it is understandable that amateur drama was often highly regarded in civilized circles. Moreover, Emants’ stage work was little played by the professional companies (about which he often complained). So it is also understandable that he put together his own little theater group, “Utile et Laetum,” in which Couperus often participated in the 1980s. They usually played in the large foyer of the Building for Arts and Sciences. In January 1892 his dramatic tableau ‘He’ was performed for the first time in the hall of the Kring, and two years later the premiere of ‘Among Us’ took place in the Kring as well.

Those first stage performances were textbook examples of the cooperation of the various departments. For a performance of Maurice Maeterlinck’s ‘l’lntruse’ (from 1891) by ‘Utile et Laetum’, in which Emants’ wife also acted, Emants wrote the translation while Karel Textor, a member of the tonal arts department, made the stage music. By the way, a remarkable mixed program; on the same evening, besides ‘Onder ons’ and ‘l’lntruse’, shadow plays by Rink, de Josselin de Jong, Moulijn and others were shown, in which Boele van Hensbroek spoke his own texts while Textor also took care of the musical accompaniment. There was singing by Mrs. Spoel, a tableau vivant staged (after ‘Breistertje’ by Jozef lsraëls) and a monologue recited; ‘the whole evening was characteristically artistic’, writes one of the attending members of the circle, ‘the only thing that was out of tune was the monologue: petty and flattering’. This was in 1894, when the Maeterlinck fashion was taking off here.

In the same year, the French actor Lugné-Poë and his company “l’Oeuvre” played Maeterlinck’s work in our country, also performing in the HKK. This defense of the creative poetic fantasy as a reaction to naturalism responded to the taste of the time and the great interest in symbolism, a phenomenon that was particularly strong in The Hague.

In the play ‘Life’ by the Kunstkring member M. Constant, performed at the Kring in 1895, we clearly find the influence of Maeterlinck. M. Constant was the pseudonym of a writer, Marie Clant van der Mijll, best known for the symbolist play “Lotos,” which was performed under the direction of Jan C. de Vos in those years at the Tivoli Theater in Rotterdam. Maeterlinck remained a beloved author in The Hague for many years, and his name keeps returning to the programs. The recitation artists lris Zeilinga-Doodeheefver and Mrs. Boldingh-Goemans had his works on their repertoire. Marie Kalft, famous French actress of Dutch birth, Societaire of the Comedie Francaise, gave another entire Maeterlinck evening for the Circle in 1905. Besides Marcellus Emants, there were few other big names in these years in the membership of the third section, Ary Prins was a member but abstained from activities.

The Tachtigers were active elsewhere although they regularly appeared at certain events at the Kring such as the visit of Verlaine or Stefan George as well as visitors to the exhibitions. Moreover, their work was not neglected at the Kring: literary scholars discussed it and it was on the program of recital evenings for decades, as well as that of Couperus who, although never appearing at the Kring, was very popular. In 1899 Phine Beider recited his “Psyche” in the Kring.

Former New Guide Frank van der Goes spoke for the Kring in 1896; the year his socialist monthly “De Nieuwe Tijd” was founded. Really closely associated was the Kring with the activities of P. L. Tak’s Chronicle, founded in 1895. Many art circle members participated in this.

However, actual literary Circle life was dominated by a number of lesser greats, especially after Emants left his post far too early in 1894, this probably as a result of a very personal affair in which possibly the writer M. Constant was involved.

Her real name then was Snijder van Wissenkerke-Clant van der Mijll, wife of Mr. W. F. Snijder van Wissenkerke, General Chairman from 1894 to 1919, from 1918 honorary chairman of the Circle. Later they divorced and the writer married another art circle member, the architect J. Limburg. Mrs. Snijder van Wissenkerke was a typical writer from The Hague, who in this period was anchored by a couperian symbolism. We already mentioned the influence of Maeterlinck on her work “Life. This was part of her book “Black Butterflies,” for which Toorop did a beautiful linear portrait of the author and also designed the binding. From 1895, Mrs. Snijder van Wissenkerke was very active in the Circle, where her salon pieces and dialogues were eagerly received. Titles such as “A Mundane,” “One Spring Idyll” and “Christmas Eve” in themselves give a nice impression of the character of her work.

Emants’ successor in the chairmanship of the department was Thérèse Hoven, writer of girls’ books and entertainment literature, whose greatest achievement was that, with the great success of her dozens of Libelle novels, she made it possible for her publisher L. J. Veen to continue publishing a more difficult to sell (and demanding!) author like Couperus. She was succeeded after a year by Frits Lapidoth, author of, among other things, the book “Goetheia,” a mystical work that experienced another German translation, and whose last sentence reads “Then the room was full of bloody pieces of corpse. Later he was a well-known reviewer.

He was married for some time to the singing heart in our literature, the poet Hélène Swarth (1859-1941), who had lived in The Hague since 1892. Both spouses held readings for the Circle in 1896.

In 1898 P. A. M. Boele van Hensbroek (1853-1912) took over the chairmanship of Lapidoth. This son-in-law and associate of the publisher Martinus Nijhoff was one of the first from a long line of literary scholars to be a member of the Circle or to hold causeries there. A pupil of Vosmaer, he had become quite well known in 1891 for the ‘Of a king’s wife’ dedicated to Queen Emma (she was, by the way, a regular visitor of the Kring’s exhibitions, where she also bought). Boele van Hensbroek spoke for the Kring about the Tachtigers, among other things, but was also concerned with painting (among other things, he spoke about J. lsraëls). He also wrote a catalog of the Mesdag Museum.

Other literary experts who appeared before the Circle in these years were the Gids contributor Prof. A. G. van Hamel (1842- 1907), who talked about diction (a subject Albert Vogel Sr would explore in more depth in the 1920s) and Prof. Dr. Jan ten Brink (183-1903), teacher of both Emants and Couperus. According to the latter, Ten Brink talked much more beautifully than he wrote, and so Ten Brink talked about the grail theme, which had become very popular because of the Wagner operas, among other things.

Further members who made themselves heard at the association evenings were Edward B. Koster, poet and highly regarded translator of Shakespeare, among other things, who, as far as I’m concerned, has earned immortality because he gave Van Deyssel cause to refer to him as “someone with a dirty little soul, a little soul like a poop,” and member from the very beginning, W. F. Margadant, former naval officer and writer of naval sketches, monologues and farces, who succeeded Boele as chairman during the First World War.

The international orientation of the Circle exhibited by the first and second sections was also present in the literary section. There were good ties with the Belgium of “From Now and Later. As with the visual arts department, here it was also Toorop who made the contacts. Toorop, who in those years devoted himself so much to the Kunstkring that he even took up residence in The Hague for it, sometimes acted in an unprotocolary manner. On April 12, 1894, the secretary J. Jurriaan Kok wrote to chairman Th. de Bock: ‘This is no longer acceptable, Toorop invites Verhaeren on his own initiative, it is a madhouse’.

On April 25, Jurriaan Kok asked the main board to resign probably because of this issue, but on reflection he stayed on. Jurriaan Kok played the biggest role artistically in the famous Rozenburg factory in The Hague (pottery and eggshell porcelain) from 1894. He was an active secretary and people will have been glad to see him return to his resignation. Emile Verhaeren delivered a lecture on “Les Esthétiques littéraire contemporaines” in April 1894 in the company of the young August Vermeylen. Toorop made a portrait of Vermeylen on this occasion.

Verhaeren returned to the Circle once more in 1907. From 1897, the Flemish writer Cyriel Buysse was a member of the Kring. He was a winter resident of The Hague. In 1929 he was honored in the Kring together with Hélène Swarth and Willem Kloos.

It was especially Toorop in the early 1990s, who, through his contacts with the group of Les XX, which later became La Libre Esthétique, provided some interesting events. It was he who, together with the painter and graphic artist Philippe Zilcken, who was a well-known Francophile, brought Paul Verlaine to the Circle. From November 2 to 13, 1892, the dear parnassien visited our country and it became a true victory tour.

He later recorded his impressions of this visit in the booklet “Quinze jours en Hollande,” published in collaboration with the Hague bookseller Blok. He gave a total of four lectures in our country, including two in The Hague, one in Leiden and one in Amsterdam. In The Hague he stayed with the Zilckens in their villa Hélène opposite Huis ten Bosch, and in the shortest time he was introduced to the entire Dutch cultural elite. Verlaine liked it very much in The Hague. For his host’s little daughter, Renée Zilcken, (“Fillette exquisement mignonne”) he wrote a poem. He admired the Passage at Buitenhof and marveled at the name ‘s-Gravenhage. On the second day of his stay, Zilcken took photographs of Verlaine. Toorop and Albert Verwey came to visit and stayed for lunch. He also took a look that day at the hall where he was to speak in the evening. It was the hall where the Masons usually had their Lodge. He spoke that evening before about a hundred people, including a remarkable number of women and girls. There were also students from Leiden and Amsterdam.

During his first lecture for the Haagse Kunstkring, Henriette van de Schalk met her later husband Richard N. Roland Holst.

The title Verlaine gave for his lecture was as follows: ‘Causerie relative aux écrivains en vers, mes contemporains et compatriotes, suivie de lecture à l’appui. Parallèlement aux Parnassiens, mes vieux amis et camarades de lettres, je parlerai des “modernes Décadents, Symbolistes et Romanciers nos successeurs, non moins nos amis.

Verlaine also read poems from his collection “Sagesse,” among others, to great acclaim. After his lecture, he walked with Verwey, Toorop and the Zilckens to the Society of the Circle in the Passage, where there was a long talk afterwards.

During his stay in our country, Verlaine was still drawn by Toorop, Isaac lsraëls and Jan Veth. Verlaine in turn made a drawing of Toorop (“Ce Suberbe Javanais”). He also visited the painter Haverman, where the Hague composer B. J. F. Varenhorst played his own works on the piano for the company.

Almost simultaneously with Verlaine’s visit to the Circle fell the arrival of the Sâr or Joséphin Péladan, Grand Master of the Ordre de la Rose + Croix et du Graal. Leader of a sect that was as mystical as it was artistic, organizing annual painting salons in Paris that interested and amused the French art scene until the late 1990s. The Order was not without influence on Symbolism, and our Toorop exhibited there. Verlaine attended Péladan’s lecture.

De Sâr spoke in the hall of the Kunstkring, above Café Riche on the Buitenhof on: ‘Le Mystere, l’art et l’amour’. Verlaine described the hall on that occasion: ‘assez grande, en long plutot faiblement éclairée’. With Péladan, Verlaine did not have much in common (contestable, mais talentueux’).

On November 14, 1892, Albert Verwey describes the dinner given in honor of the two artists in a letter to Henriëtte van der Schalk. ‘Yesterday’s centerpiece was my acquaintance with den Sâr – Mr. Peladan to be understood. At a table with burning spark plugs and twenty guests he sat over Verlaine, his sly pitch-black head, and lithe little body in black-sided jacket with white lace trim and closing to the feminine hands, brown-satin calf pants in high white boots – and what a dashing bow he made of getting up in one swing, turning around, neighing and sitting down again, when I came in. ‘Tis a buffoon.

Verlaine was beautiful again, and in the evening at Zilcken’s read ‘Car l’art, mon enfant c’est d’être absolument soi-même’ – ‘Fi du dandyisme et fi de la pose’. This morning we said goodbye to him: je me sens comme un enfant, said-i-at that busy station among all those rattling trains. He longed for his little hotel and for the hospital where he would sleep in. Toorop was also at the train, rolled towards it, past us, in a monkey. He had gone after ‘t déjeuner with Peladan to Scheveningen, all the Scheveningen youth after them.’

Péladan’s lecture, despite speakers bizarre appearance, made a deep impression. In his manifesto written that same year as a preface to the catalog of the first exhibition of his salon de la Rose + Croix, he called the artist: a priest, a king, a magician.

The aversion to the bourgeois world and the tendency toward mysticism, the almost religious feel of the artists’ vocation appealed to many. So much so that, after Péladan’s lecture Toorop, R. N. Roland Holst and Thorn Prikker signed up as members of the order. An, albeit short-lived, event that suited these very artists very well in their developmental progress. The Golden Book of the HKK holds a distinctive memory of both of their visits; a modest signature of the great Verlaine and an ornate signature of the Sâr covering the entire page. The memory of Verlaine and Péladan’s visit was always kept alive in the Art Circle. No wonder that on the 15th anniversary in 1906, both Verlaine and Sâr Péladan were brought to the stage in a Revue for the Circle. Fourteen years after Verlaine’s visit to the Circle, H. P. Harlem honored his memory with a lecture on “La vie et l’oeuvre de Paul Verlaine. In 1921, it was Fenna de Meyier who devoted an evening to the great poet.

From Paris in 1897 C. Mouvy came to speak about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the English Pre-Rafaellite painter and poet, who had such a great influence on our painters in the 1990s.

From Germany the chief guest in those years was Stephan George, who was invited through the mediation of Albert Verwey to read from his own work at the Kring. On the evening of March 28, 1896, in addition to his own “Neue Gedichte,” George read works by his friends Hugo van Hoffmansthal and Gerardy. The leading Eighties artists were now gathered in the Art Circle. Gorter, Verwey and Van Deyssel. The latter wrote about the evening in the Kroniek of April 5: ‘When, after having read sitting down, he rose to recite his own ‘Neue Gedichte’ from memory, it was a moment of such slender principality and haughty spiritual elegance, and his light singing sounded so like a distant bell in a fine pure winter morning in our attention, that the attendance could be called a singular event. On the occasion of this lecture, Toorop made his portrait of the poet, to which he added the portrait of Verwey following a later visit by George, in May 1901, when George spoke at Boschoord.

Readings

Over the next few years, in addition to causeries and lectures, even in cycle, much attention was paid to elocution.

In 1899, Willem Royaards performs Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar. Names we meet later include Philippe de la Chapelle, Johan Broedelet, who also produced the texts for cabarets, Jeanne Visser, Marie Metz-Koning, Louis Landry, while Eduard Verkade’s offer to recite Macbeth for the Kring was also gladly accepted. The best-known recitalist of his time was undoubtedly Albert Vogel Sr, who made his first appearance at the Kunst kring in 1903 with Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, to be set to music two years later by Richard Strauss.

A program choice, which can be called remarkable because after Wilde’s death the memory of his trial and conviction was still alive and the moral indignation, even in our country, was still directed both against the poet and his work. In 1906, Vogel recited the drama “King Svend,” dedicated to him by art circle member Hendrik van der Wal.

And in 1909, he was a recitalist for Willem van Konijnenburg’s gestalt play in 5 acts, “Truth and Chimere. A symbolic movement play for which Van Konijnenburg had both written the text and also designed the ‘choreography’. The sets were by Henricus, the music composed by Willem Landré, at the piano Henriëtte Roll. Because of the collaboration of different art forms, it became a typical Kunstkring event, which attracted great attention.

After that, it was not until the 1920s that we heard from Vogel again, who then recited regularly for the Circle. From his classical romantic repertoire he performed ‘King Oedipus’ and ‘Antigene’, Byron’s ‘Manfred’, the Wagnerian drama in ver zen ‘Starkadt’ by the Flemish poet Alfred Hegenscheid, but also romantic German ballads with piano accompaniment, for which Willem Landré and Koeberg wrote the music. Vogel was General Chairman from 1926 to 1932 and during that time, also as chairman, headed the Society of Word Art which held its meetings in the Circle and worked closely with the Circle Board.

In 1933 after Vogel’s death, a committee was formed, in part by the HKK, to come up with a monument to his memory. Circle member of the first hour Anton Molkenboer designed a mosaic fountain that was placed on Frederik Hendrikplein in The Hague in 1935. On the edge: To Albert Vogel 1874- 1933. Above it, a quote from Vondel: “O wondrous power of ‘t word full of majesty.

At the end of the thirties we see the performance of the famous solo actress Nel Oosthout with Klabund’s ‘de Krijtkring’ with the cooperation of the cellist Albert van Doorn. She also performed for the Kring with ‘Elckerlijck’.

Ben van Eysselsteijn recited several times from his own work as did André Peters who, however, also performed with works by Goethe and Vondel and brought his own adaptation of “Parsifal” with music by Wagner. The literary sensitive Maud Cossaar made herself heard several times while we come across the names of Francien Koote-Gerrese and of Iris Zeilinga-Doodeheefver many times during this period. The latter had already recited Maeterlinck’s “La mort de Tintagiles” at the Kring in 1929, on the occasion of the Tooropher commemoration.

At that commemoration, besides the chairman of the first section J. C. Cossaar, Albert Vogel Sr, Willem van Konijnenburg, Dr. H. Berlage and honorary chairman Snijder van Wissenkerke spoke. Hugo van Dalen played Rachmaninoff’s “Trauer.

The well-known Rotterdam elocutionist Jacq. Elsacker was invited in 1927. In addition to Mrs. Boldingh-Goemans, who had already performed for the Art Society in 1912, in the twenties and early thirties the elocutionist Ellen Vareno, sometimes together with her husband Albert Vogel, filled several recital evenings with works by Couperus, Paul Fort, Charles Peguy and Jan Prins. In the lighter genre, the popular Mr. A. W. Kamp and Maria Mariette excelled.

Among the many female recitalists we mention the names of Jan Boezer, Maria van Royen, Mariette Serlé, Toos Hoog, Rodi Medenbach (wife of the art critic A. de Wal) and Thera Latour-Bovens. Besides the already mentioned actors Royaards and Verkade, the stage actor Cor Dommelshuizen made himself heard as a reciter, as well as the actresses Betty Holtrop van Gelder (in 1923), Louise Kooiman (a.o. in 1934) and Caroline van Dommelen.

It goes without saying that at the various commemorations (Goethe-Gezelle-Vondel) and at the tributes to Hélène Swarth, Willem Kloos, Cyriel Buysse, Frederik van Eeden, Johan de Meester and Johannes Reddingius, among others, the above-mentioned members of the Circle lent their assistance. A genre apart was represented by Liesbeth Sanders-Herzberg.

In the area of the art of recitation, too, room was gladly made for foreign guests. Thus the members of the Kring heard Käthe Guttmann recite several times. Alfred Beierle of the Deutsches Theater (Max Reinhard) offered an interesting theme program in 1934 in cooperation with the pianist Jan Hoog.

And in 1920, Elly Reicher was invited from Berlin with a program that included verses by Confutze, Li Tai Po (in Hans Bethge’s translation) and Hafis, whose exoticism will no doubt have appealed to The Hague audiences. In 1922, Elly Reicher played Lady Macbeth alongside Eduard Verkade with the Haghe Players in The Hague. She was succeeded in that role by Louise Kooiman, who also performed several times for the Kring.

The French actress Marie Kalft of the Comedie Française, whom we already mentioned with her Maeterlinck evening in 1906, came to the Circle again in 1911 with a Soirée by Paul Claudel.

In the years between the two World Wars, August Heyting was an active figure in the Art Circle, especially in the years 1919- 1925. A remarkable man. Among other things, he was briefly general secretary of the Circle. Heyting was a poet and a man of letters. In the latter capacity he covered the whole terrain from Maerlant via Vondel and Shelley to the Eighties in a series of lectures for the Kring, often interspersed with readings of his own work which seems to originate from the nineteenth rather than the twentieth century, but which the composer Koeberg gave the compliment of being so well set to music. In his work he often used the old Germanic staff rhyme that Wagner also liked to use. By the way, Heyting’s ‘Nordic’ conception of heroes also resonated with him, as can be seen, for example, in his drama in verse ‘Harald de Skalde’.

Art circle members Cossaar, Georges Hoogerwaard and A. M. Luyt illustrated his work. In December 1939 Heyting was honored at the Kring with the performance of an excerpt from his “Radin,” while the Kring’s premises were decorated with illustrations of his work by the Viennese professor Hans Eibl who, introduced by Berlage, had first exhibited at the Kring in 1920. Jan Ubink, chairman of the literary department for many years, in addition to reading his own work, also gave many evenings devoted to very diverse topics: ‘the many possibilities of debate’, reciting verses in public’, relativity in art’, the young artist and his difficulties’ etc. etc.

Stage

It is a pity, but understandable, that real stage performances in the Kunstkring have come about very rarely. After the amateur performances in the first years under the direction of Emants which, with a few exceptions, were not performed in the Kring, but in the foyer of the K. and W. building (and of course Lugné-Poë’s performance), only a single mostly light-hearted play in the context of a party evening made it to the stage. It would also have been technically impossible to compete with the official theater companies.

However, Dutch playwrights, whose works rarely came to performance during this time – a sad tradition – were given many opportunities in the Arts Circle to read their plays and defend their views on the dramatic arts. Bernard Canter, for example, read his plays several times. August Heyting, Jan Ubink, Frans de Prez, Jan Fabricius, Eduard Veterman and Ben van Eysselsteyn presented their plays before an often enthusiastic audience. Of these authors Canter, little, Fabricius until 1918 very much, then exclusively by amateurs: Veterman and Van Eysselsteyn (who debuted with “De duivel op aarde” n.b. in Prague!) were regularly played, especially by Cor v. d. Lugt Melsert.

After the First World War the Board invited a number of actors to become members with the intention of establishing a separate theater department. Among others, Cor van der Lugt Melsert signed up. In that year, 1918, also joined Dr. J. L. Walch, the later professor (at the Sorbonne-Paris) and still later director of the Drama School in Amsterdam. His predecessor as director of the Toneelschool, Balthasar Verhagen, spoke in 1920 on Euripides’ “Bacchantes,” Otto Schabbel in 1921 on “Das Drama in die Niederdeutsche Literatur,” and in 1922 it was Maurits Wagen voort who spoke on the playwright and his audience.

In 1931 a large number of evenings were organized in cooperation with the Union of Dutch Playwrights of which August Heyting was chairman. The Prezen Ubink spoke about theater problems and from the latter a play was even performed in the Kring in 1936 ‘des Duivels prentenboek’ directed by K. Bronsgeest. Also in 1936, Dr. Hans Meyer spoke about: ‘das Theater in Deutschland’.

The most spectacular event organized by the Kring in the field of Drama was the “First Dutch Drama Month” in 1923, which unfortunately would remain the only one. A major exhibition of set designs was held from February 10 to March 10 of that year. The Kring was then located in the cellars of the Ridderzaal. In the Ridderzaal itself, on the occasion of Toneelmaand, a Miracle Play was performed by “Die Haghe Players” led by Eduard Verkade. Besides the performance by the Schouwtoneel led by Jan Musch in the Schouwburg, probably an ‘ordinary’ performance, there was, again in the Ridderzaal, a special performance of the mask play: ‘The Only Jealousy of Emer’ by W. B. Yeats, in Hélène Swarth’s translation, conducted by Albert van Dalsum. Further lectures and demonstrations by Mrs. Aleida Roelofsen, Frits van Dijk, Eduard Verkade, a lecture by the great singing pedagogue Cornelie van Zanten with film demonstration (!). Demonstrations also, by drama school students led by director Balthasar Verhagen and including teacher Louis van Gasteren.

Also, how could it be otherwise, Shadow Plays in the Circle, including “The Wedding of Aladin” with music by Dr. J. Wagenaar and collaboration by Vilmos Huszar. A public lesson in choreography was given by Lily Green and Margareth Walker. Eduard Veterman held another causation and Jan Fabricius read a new play.

A demonstration of the method Jaques Dalcrose rhytmic by Mrs. Boumans will then follow on May 13. All in all, an excellent weapons display, very interesting also because of the different stylistic views of Van Dalsum and Verkade. The various influences of Gordon Graig and of Reinhardt had been incorporated and adapted to the style of the Dutch directors since 1900, of which these two (Verkade and Van Dalsum) were the most important besides Royaards.

On the occasion of the celebration of the Circle’s 30th anniversary, plans were well advanced to stage Frederik van Eeden’s “Broederveete. The writer, having been approached through Henri Borel, discussed the plans with the Kring board on April 4, 1921. Initially, Koeberg would do the music, later Lise Kuyper set about the composition. The author himself, who felt grossly misunderstood as a playwright, set about preparing the text. In July 1921 the music was performed by Lise Kuyper at the Kunstkring, but in the end the performance did not take place, although Van Eeden did come to the Kunstkring and the members heard ‘De Broederveete’ in the form of a causation.

Lectures on literature and art criticism

Literary life in the Netherlands and abroad was much talked about. For example, in 1908 we see Herman Robbers, then a leading critic talking about literary life in the Netherlands, in 1924 the authoritative Johan de Meester Sr and in 1928 the young A. den Doolaard introducing modern poetry.

On the initiative of the Art Circle, a congress on art criticism was convened in 1926. Probably to avoid endless drivel, it was wise enough to call for a pre-advice in advance to have starting points. These opinions were given by, among others, E. G. van Bolhuis of the NRC, R. N. Roland Holst, Jan Fabricius, Edward B. Koster, and Herbert van der Poll. Ten years later, January 1936, Pieter Koomen, critic of the NRC, speaks again on art appreciation and criticism. In 1939, S. C. Tinbergen speaks on the subject.

Poets and translators from and about their own work

Poets and writers from abroad who visited The Hague were always welcome guests at the Kunstkring. Aside from the French, Belgian and German poets mentioned earlier, the visit of Paul Fort, ‘le Prince des Poètes’, was a highlight. That was January 1920.

He spoke about his work in the Circle, his wife Germaine d’Orfer and Ellen Vareno recited his poems. In January 1931, the famous Romanian poet Helena Vacaresco was even received with a gala evening. Of course, our own poets and writers were also honored. J. C. Bloem received an honorary evening in 1938, and later became an honorary member of the Circle.

A selection of literary evenings:

In 1939 we see the appearance of the poets of the magazine “Werk,” which included Eduard Hoornik, Adriaan van der Veen, Jaques van Hattum and Theo van Baaren.

Also in 1939, the inauguration of Joannes Reddingius took place.

Of the poets of 80, it was Dr. Hein Boeken, squire of Willem Kloos, and the occasional poet par excellence of the Tachtigers, who spoke many times before the Circle and gave, among other things, an introduction to Dante’s Heaven in 1910. Ten years later it was J. K. Rensburg,. excellent Dante translator, who spoke about this genius poet in connection with “the Art, Style and Society of the immediate future. The very gifted, unworldly, idealistic Van Rensburg was a frequent guest in the Circle.

Annie Salomons spoke about and read from her own work in 1921. In 1922, Christine Doorman, Andersen’s translator, spoke about the inner meaning of fairy tales. A subject that anticipated the great interest of later years, in which (partly under the influence of C. Jung) the archetypal value of the fairy tale came into focus (Schuurman – Melly Uyldert etc.).

In the late 1930s, the versatile poet-drawer Ir. Hein von Essen spoke several times before the Circle.

Lectures on art and artists

Among the very many lectures held for the Circle over the years, namely under the auspices of the Third Section, there have been a number which we would like to mention in particular. For example, in 1914 Anton Molkenboer spoke on “Comparison of decorative arts in the Middle Ages, America and Holland. In 1917 Dr. Jan Kalf spoke on monument restoration and in 1918 on the occasion of the Vincent van Gogh exhibition at the Kunstkring, Otto van Tussenbroek gave a lecture on this painter.

During the months of October through December 1918, some fifteen lectures were given by Dr. M. H. J. Schoenmakers of Laren on “Visual Mathematics.

Another frequent speaker was Dr. K. H. E. de Jong, whom the Circle heard as early as 1920 on “Vondel as Thinker. In 1929 he spoke on the philosophy of Henri Bergson (followed by a debate), in 1937 his topic was “Parapsychology and Art.

In 1941 we hear De Jong again, this time on “the second Homer,” and in 1952 De Jong participated in a symposium on literature and criticism, together with Prof. N. A. Donker sloot, Adriaan van der Veen, and Jos Panhuysen.

The ever topical subject of “pornography and literature” was discussed by J. Boender in 1928.

The idea of devoting an entire cycle to one special subject, which would be examined from different angles, led to a series of lectures in 1940 under the motto “The Serving Character of Art.

It was typical of the ominous atmosphere of the time that the Circle, which, while pursuing the cooperation of the arts, generally never greatly emphasized the social functioning of art, came to this topic. The speaker who would be the last to more or less summarize the subject was Mr. W. F. van Royen. An artist of great noblesse, who with Van Krimpen was among our best letter designers. Specialist in the fine book, he worked extensively with A. A. M. Stols, among others. He was not only a refined aesthete, but also a man of action, standing up forcefully for his beliefs. One of the main organizers of the artists’ resistance, he was arrested and executed during the war.

The spirit of this lecture series was completely different from the non-committal reflections that had been held in the Circle on many occasions. A promising new approach, which however immediately marked the provisional end of the Kring. Because of the outbreak of war on May 5, the lectures by Van Eysselsteyn and Van Royen were postponed until the autumn of 1940.

In February 1941, the last Art Circle season (the HKK was disbanded until 1945), Jan van Kasteel spoke of “The Yellow House” by A. C. Willink, in whose work “a disembodied world rushes toward its doom.

Exhibitions

In addition to the spoken and written word, members of the literary department also collaborated in putting together exhibitions. For example, an exhibition of old and new children’s picture books was held in 1912, and Henri Borel, author of the widely read book “The Little Boy,” exhibited his famous collection of Chinese art in the HKK in 1913.

Borel was author of such famous books at the time as “Beauty and Wisdom in China” and considered an expert par excellence. He was a long-time member of the Art Circle. It was probably Borel’s example that led August Heyting to exhibit his collection of Chinese Art in 1919, partly as an illustration of his lectures on this subject.

Honors

The opportunity to honor fellow artists was gladly seized by the Art Circle. Especially the twenties and thirties exemplified it.

Mrs. Theo Mann-Bouwmeester, whose husband, the composer and conductor Gottfried Mann, had been co-founder of the Circle, was honored during her anniversary tour of the Arts Circle in 1926. That same year: Berlage.

In 1929 it was the turn of J. H. Speenhof, and in the same year followed the honoring of Hélène Swarth, Willem Kloos and Cyriel Buysse.

A year later Frederik van Eeden and Johan de Meester were applauded, and in 1931 Jan Fabricius turned 60 for whatever reason he was honored at the Kring. A token of warm appreciation for this once popular writer forgotten by the professional theater in those years.

The great poet and amiable human being J. C. Bloem was named an honorary member in 1938.

Experimental events

Among the most important historical events at the Kunstkring should certainly be mentioned the first Dutch Dada meeting held on January 10, 1923, in the halls of the Kunstkring. Despite the inevitable Heyting, this performance by Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters attracted strong attention: ‘surprising Dadaist evenings, discussed as far away as the farthest corners of our country, yes in German Dadaist pamphlets’ we read in the yearbook.

The Circle has always considered it an honor to be the place where Dada’s tour of the Netherlands began. In his book “Holland Dada,” the poet K. Schippers has reconstructed an account of this memorable evening, from which we quote the following:

‘The start of the tour is usually dated in December 1922 , but according to a report in the Algemeen Handelsblad of January 9, 1923, Schwitters had been held up by then. ‘The Dadaist Kurt Schurtters (Schwitters) from Hannover, who was to give a Dadaist evening at the ‘Haagsche Kunstkring’ on December 27 – which, however, did not take place due to fitting difficulties – will read his well-known ‘Anna Blume’ and his satire ‘Ursachen und Beginn der grossen glorreichen Revolution in Revon’ tomorrow, January 10, at the ‘Haagschen Kunstkring’, Binnenhof 8. The painter Theo van Doesburg will open this evening with a short introduction to Dadaism.’

From newspaper reports, it is possible to reconstruct the program of that first evening. On the stage is a small table with a floor lamp and a glass of water on it. At that table sits Theo van Doesburg, dressed in a black suit and shirt. He wears a white knit tie, white silk socks, black patent leather shoes, and in one eye he clutches a monocle. One critic would speak of “a photographic negative” and another wrote that everything that was black in an ordinary person was white in Van Doesburg and vice versa. A third gave a variation on William Wordsworth’s famous verse: ‘He was a phantom of delight/when first he gleamed upon my sight/a lovely apparition sent/to be a moment’s ornament.’

Van Doesburg began to read his manifesto What is Dada? (1923), published separately by De Stijl for this tour, during which Kurt Schwitters, sitting in the back of the room – no one knew him – interrupted his speech from time to time with vigorous barking. Schwitters would later write that at a sign from Van Doesburg – drinking a sip of water – he would bark for the first time and do so to demonstrate Dadaism and also because he did not yet know a word of Dutch. According to the newspapers, he must have gone further. ‘Cooing like a dove, croaking like a frog, crowing like a rooster and then blowing, hissing and moaning.’ …

. . . ‘A short intermission followed, during which some of the audience, kindled by Schwitters, began to make all sorts of noises. After Van Doesburg, Schwitters came on stage for his ‘Ursachen und Beginn der grossen glorreichen Revolution in Revon.’ The audience became especially extremely noisy because of the endless repetitions.

As Schwitters read, the shadow of a dance figure became visible, projected onto a white canvas behind the stage. A puppet created by Vilmos Huszàr. (It is noteworthy, though, that shadows always had to be involved in the Circle.)

‘Pause. The artists sold copies of Mécano, Anna Blume, Merz, What is Dada? and Memoirs Anna Blumes in Bleie, which last collection Schwitters had published in 1922 with Walter Heinrich publishers in Freiburg and from which he would read widely in Holland. The press saw this as an un-Dadaist, commercial activity and decided that these (anti) Dadaists were not as crazy as they looked after all.

Just before intermission, pianist Nelly van Doesburg had played The Wedding March for a Crocodile by Rieti, and immediately after intermission she returned with the Weeping March for a Bird and the Military March for an Ant by this Italian composer. This music was still called “very listenable” in the press and sometimes praised the pianist, who played with “great skill.

Then Schwitters appeared again. This time, he had in his hand an instrument described as a “child’s harp,” “a tube revolving like a rattle, in which metal tongues of sound are struck and from it a gossamer singing sound arises,” and on which he performed the first two bars of “lch hatt eine Kameraden. Then a poem: ‘Die zute Tute’ …

… ‘A gentleman from the Haagsche Kunstkring spoke the words of thanks: ‘Dom, domdomdomdomdom, domderedom, domderedom, domderedom, very stupid, very stupid, meerdandom, meerdandom, dom,’ trying to match the mood of the audience. Nelly van Doesburg supported his words by playing Erik Satie’s Ragtime from the ballet Parade, which was listed in the program as “Rag Time Dada.

In Merz 2 (April 1923) Theo van Doesburg returned to this word of thanks: ‘Mr. August Heyting (… ) declared himself prepared to make a Dutch Dadaist volklied (music by Voormalen (Voormolen)). The motive chosen by Mr. Heyting for this is: ‘dom dommer domst meer dan dom allerdomst’, womit er nicht sich meint. By way of tribute, Mr. August recited this motif at the first dada-soirée. The audience howled Zwieback. After this successful debut as August the domme of the HKK hop hop (Line 13), Mr. Heyting had the cut of his dress coat transformed into an impeccable Biedermeyer cut’.

It is shameful that the Kunstkring – despite all the eulogies in the society’s reports – was not willing to pay for the few drinks Van Doesburg and his companions had had in the society! Theo van Doesburg had been a member of the Kunstkring for many years and had previously discussed modern painting there.

An “Ultra Moderne Matinee” had already taken place in October 1918 by a group calling itself “De Branding” in which the poet Herman van den Berg and Louis Saalborn participated. Futuristic declamation was given by Laurens van Kuyk who also gave the introduction and by Leonard Limousin. Lidya Lyta gave modern dances. Less than two months later a soiree moderne was presented, on December 15, 1918, where Jaap Kool spoke on modern dance art as an introduction to expressionist dances by Grit Hegesa. And all that in a room that contained paintings by H. F. Bieling, which had been created in response to these dances.

Dance Art

By the way, every year there were regular dance performances. Thus in 1910 we find a dance matinée by mademoiselle Villany “Danseuse moderne” with “danses Stylisées, danses mythologiques, danses pieds nus, danses orientales. The kind of dances that had come into vogue through lsadora Duncan and to which Mata Hari also owed her name.

In the thirties Darja Collin performed, still later Han Reinbeck.

India

Much space was also given to exotic dance art. Given the strong ties between The Hague and the old East Indies, it is not surprising that the programs devoted much thought to the artistic expressions of that country.

As early as 1909, Mrs. Van Zuylen-Tromp organized an exhibition of Indian arts and crafts, which she explained orally, but especially in the 1920s we see a great interest in India, partly due to the arrival in the Art Circle of R.M. Jodjana and the poet R.M. Noto Soeroto. The latter spoke several times before the Circle.

With a group of collaborators (probably a group of Javanese students from Leiden), a number of dance evenings with Gamelan accompaniment were organized in 1921, with the great dancer Jodjana as the centerpiece.

Moreover, in that year, Noto Sueroto spoke of forging krisses. In 1929, Surya Thirta danced to Indian motifs accompanied by the gamelan.

April 1933 the Indian dancer lndra Ramonsay comes to perform Hindu dances with his own accompaniment. In 1934 the Javanese R. S. Hardjodirengo is a guest of the Arts Circle; also in the 1937-1938 season an evening is devoted to drama and dance in the Indian Archipelago.

Cabaret and Revue

In addition to these high-minded art evenings, there were fortunately many merry gatherings where revues and cabarets created for the occasion were performed. Collaborators were not infrequently excellent professionals but usually it was the circle members themselves who participated as amateurs.

Some examples:

In 1915 a revue called ‘Art and Independence’ followed by ‘a play of sound, dance and movement’. Between the two plays was shown: ‘Kletsprent’ by Cornelis Veth, who was very active in the Kunstkring and spoke there about caricatures, among other things.

In 1916 a revue: “Hadjememare,” named after the then famous Amsterdam vagabond had-you-me-but, who had been elected to the Amsterdam City Council.

In the same year a cabaret evening where, among other things, the Kunstkringmarsch by Bart Verhallen was performed. The program included shadow plays and a mime called “The glowing tomato” by Johan Broedelet performed by the members themselves.

In 1931, Han van Meegeren is a conferencer and in 1939, the conferences are hosted by Louis Gimberg, who would become famous as such with his later ABC cabaret. In 1933, Willy Corsari gives an evening of cabaret songs.

Discussion evenings

Apart from all these events, there was a recurring activity on a small scale: the so-called round table meetings. After a short introduction by an invited art circle member on a subject, current or otherwise, concerning art, there was a lively discussion in which, as the hour wore on and the consumption of beverages increased, the level of discussion was probably not always high. The enthusiasm and conviviality were no less.

In 1932, for example, there was a series of 5 roundtable evenings led by Drs. Tiemen Gerritsen on the subject of “Autonomy and Harmony.

In general, one gets the impression, contemplative topics dominated the topical ones.

In reviewing the activities in the Kring during the 1920s and especially the 1930s, we notice, that in particular the important ‘Letters’ section of the third section does not reflect what was happening in the literary field in the Netherlands. Poets and writers of ‘Het Getij’ – ‘de Gemeenschap’ – ‘Forum’ and their work were not or rarely discussed. Menno ter Braak, Greshoff, Engelman, du Perron, Marsman, Slauerhoff, for example, were never officially the guest of the Circle. Nijhoff did, but only after 1945 did he come regularly. In part this is due to the hyper-individualistic aversion many of these writers felt to all association life. Still, one gets the impression that in the HKK – especially in the thirties – people locked themselves up too much in a cheerful and busy club life (a reaction to the threatening “outside world” perhaps, with crisis and approaching war), and showed themselves to be too little mirror and echo of what was going on in the world of literature in these very years.

Although the character of the Kring is to a large extent directed towards a real social life where conviviality and mutual contact are paramount, one is nevertheless surprised that one detects so little involvement in the theme of the program with what must have been at the center of many people’s thoughts at that time. The à-political character of the Circle must not have been strange to this. The entire spiritual atmosphere of the Netherlands before 1940 was mainly focused on neutrality. People closed their eyes to what was politically threatening and in that sense the Circle reflects its time. In the personal contacts and at the “round-table meetings” there will undoubtedly have been discussions, but in the programs and lectures the current topics were not or rarely expressed.

Moreover, the enormous success of and overwhelming interest in Lien Jaldati’s program, “Jewish Art,” on April 20, 1940, in the hall of the Circle, indicated that the involvement in the war violence in Europe, which had already broken loose at that time, was very evident and also showed where the sympathy lay.

It is striking that after 1945, with the élan of starting over, current events, both artistic and political, play a major role.

As early as 1947, for example, a discussion evening took place in collaboration with Pulchri Studio on “Abstract/Rhymeless” (Visual Art and Poetry) with the participation of J. B. Charles, Willem Hussem and Paul Rodenko. A then burning issue. In 1956, following the riot that Decency Crackers had unleashed in the press against Anna Blaman, an evening was organized: ‘Decency and Indecency in Literature’ in which participated: Anna Blaman, Jeanne van Schaik-Willing, Prof. S. van Dresden, Alfred Kosmann and Jos Panhuysen. Once again the Kring was happy to be the stage of foreigners: in 1955 Dr. Robert Junck spoke on, “The future has already begun; Michel Carrouge spoke on Surrealism in 1953 and in 1958 Dr. William E. S. Dubois was received at the Kring. Here the name of Nico Wijnen should be mentioned who organized most of these events first as secretary, later as president of the third section.

Much was also done in the Drama field. In 1955 a Toneel Forum including Verkade, Johan de Meester, Willy Pos and Fred Engelen.

In 1956 an international symposium on national theater with Kenneth lreland, Wilhelm Mundt, Firmin Mortier and A. den Hertog.

In 1960, the experimental theater group “Test” for the Kring premiered three Dutch one-acts: by Sybren Polet, Paul Rodenko and Harry Mulisch.

Elsewhere in this catalog, the period after 1945 will be discussed in more detail; therefore, we limit ourselves to this brief summary to show that the HKK retained its mission and character even after the war.