Studies van een snotdolf, met kleurnotities 1876 - 1924

This is a study of a bull-rout, or "snotdolf," with color notations, by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof, made with pencil on paper. Dijsselhof was part of a generation in the Netherlands who grew to artistic maturity in the 1890s. At that time, the Dutch art world was dominated by the Hague School, whose landscape painting was the established style supported by the art academies and museums. Dijsselhof and others opposed the Hague School by forming groups like the Amsterdamse School, who looked to Symbolism and Art Nouveau. As they tried to forge a new and modern Dutch art, they looked beyond academic painting towards the decorative arts, illustration, and design. This study gives us a glimpse into that moment, as it shows the artist grappling with the natural world as he searched for new forms of art. Art historians like myself can use such sketches and notations to get inside the artist's mind, and to understand the dynamics of artistic change.