Boendermakers first car ride in his Opel, 1920
Signed lower right
Watercolour, ink and gouache on paper
16 x 28 cm.
Provenance:
Probably a gift from the artist to Piet Boendermaker,
Collection Piet Boendermaker, nr. 1950,
Auction Sotheby's Amsterdam, 8 december 1994, lot 58.
Private collection, The Netherlands
Literature:
Piet Spijk, De Bergense School en Piet Boendermaker, Zwolle, 1997, p. 62. (illustrated).
Eveline Heuves, Gestel in Bergen, Museum Kranenburgh, Zwolle, 2002, p. 43 (illustrated).
Piet Spijk, Piet Boendermaker, Mecenas van de Bergense School, Zwolle 2015, p. 74 (illustrated).
Leo Gestel was born in 1881 in Woerden, a town near Utrecht. Around 1907, he developed a so called luministic painting style and his work became an explosion of colour. Like Jan Sluijters, Piet Mondriaan and Piet van der Hem, Gestel was seen as an ultra-modern artist. Later on in life he worked in a more cubist manner and at the end of his life he was influenced by the expressionists.
Gestel was known for his landscapes, portraits and still life, which he produced in oil paint, watercolor and pencil. He also illustrated books.