Gallery

Tony Offermans (1854-1911)

Around the turn of the century busy craftsmen are the favorite topics of Tony Offermans, born in The Hague, who paints them beautifully in watercolours. Besides this watercolour of a clogmaker in his workshop, which we purchases in April 2000 at art dealer Simonis & Buunk in Ede, he captures a watchmaker, a carpenter, a barber, an antique dealer, a violin maker, a purring woman, a cobbler and so on. He does all that 'with gusto' so that works of him are included in the collections of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague and the Singer Museum in Laren (NH). He also makes nice peasant interiors, landscapes and village views in oil paint.

Tony Offermans gets his education at the Academy of Art in The Hague and later he takes lessons from B.J. Blommers (1845-1914). He is a great admirer of the works of Jacob Maris and he has a great need 'to live in the countryside'. Many years he therefore spends the summers in his house on the way between Velp and De Steeg, which is built entirely according to his instructions and is called 'Villa Sophie' as a tribute to his mother, a gifted opera soprano.

On one hand, Tony Offermans is a serious painter and outdoorsman, on the other hand he is a real bohemian and reckless bon vivant. In the artistic nightlife of The Hague he is very popular as a pacer for all kinds of parties and later also in Laren (in Het Gooi), where he, after much wanderings, settles in 'Villa Ariëtte', the house that previously has been inhabited by Anton and Ariëtte Mauve. With Offermans as an improvising pianist and witty speaker one must always laugh. His farewell speech at the departure of Albert Neuhuys (1844-1914) to America and his official speech at the unveiling of the memorial to Anton Mauve (de 'Mauve Pump') on the Brink in Laren (NH) in 1907 are absolutely legendary. Several times the artist has painted a clog workshop, always with the fascinating counterplay between the light from inside and outside, making the atmosphere of the time is almost tangible.