Behind The Gallery: Art dealer Dolf D. van Omme

For the twelfth time Dutch art dealer Dolf D. van Omme (1976) will participate at the annual PAN Amsterdam art fair next November. After an internship at an auction house, Dolf started working as an assistant for the Dutch art dealer Constant Vecht from Kunstzalen A. Vecht. In 2004 Dolf founded his own gallery specialised in Impressionist and Modern paintings and works on paper.

Since 2006 Dolf D. van Omme has exhibited at PAN Amsterdam where he – traditionally assisted by his mother - offers paintings and works on paper from artists such as Jean-Gabriel Domergue, Jan Sluijters, Willy Sluiter, Jan Toorop, Leo Gestel and Isaac Israels.

Having been present at PAN for so many years he has noticed that despite the originally Dutch character of the fair, today more and more foreign collectors are finding their way to this event. He also noticed that the period he specialises in (late 19th and early 20th century paintings and works on paper) is still sought after by many collectors and is therefore quite strong.

Hemelse en Aardse liefde

A good example is the - Hemelse en Aardse liefde - executed circa 1911-1912 by the Dutch Modernist artist Jan Sluijters (1881-1957). This so-called 'study' in oil paint used to be part of the famous collection of dr. J.F.S. Esser. Sluijters produced several studies (of which two are executed in oil on canvas). The final masterpiece was made in 1912 and can be found in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

   
_{From left to right 'Study for the Sacred and Profane Love', 1911", 'Sacred and Profane Love', 1912, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.' Sacred and Profane Love', around 1912, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands.}

According to Dolf van Omme, these studies are very interesting as we can clearly see the artist's development. "Have a look at all the studies and see the changes Sluijters added before he made the final version. In this particularly elaborate work (offered by Dolf D. van Omme at PAN, red.) you can still notice the landscape in the background; in the other works Sluijters eventually transformed this into a white wall." The sitting woman represents the profane love while the standing woman represents the sacred love. That is why this painting is called ‘Sacred and Profane love’. A painting by Titian with the same title that Sluijters saw during his travel to Rome in 1905 was a direct inspiration. 

The J.F.S. Esser collection

The collection of Johannes Fredericus Samuel Esser (1877-1946) was unique in his time. He was the first known collector of Piet Mondriaan and he bought paintings of Jan Sluijters, Leo Gestel, Piet van der Hem, George Hendrik Breitner and other modernist and luminist painters. In a relatively short period between 1906 and 1912, he collected more than 1,000 paintings. This collection provides a good overview of the early 20th century Dutch painters and their focus. Dr. J.F.S. (Jan) Esser was a man who excelled in many fields. He declined a ministerial post within the German government; nearly founded a surgical free state on a Greek island, and died in 1946 in America as an eccentric destitute and espionage suspect, who saw as his final task "to secure the future of mankind", but the book in which he would unite all the sciences, remained unfinished.

In 1919 Esser sold a part of his collection. Helene Kröller-Müller bought one of the studies of Hemelse en Aardse liefde. The other pre-studies of this series remained in the private collection of Esser and later his descendants. Dolf mentions that this will be the first time that this work will be available on the market after being in the Esser collection for over a century. That makes this particular work rather unique. In 2004 an Esser heir auctioned a version of the same subject in oil at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, which sold for €254.400,-

Next to many fine Modernism and Amsterdam Impressionism paintings and works on paper, Dolf van Omme also offers two watercolours by the Dutch 20th century artist Erik Andriesse (1957-1993). According to Dolf these works are perfectly fitting in the style his collection represents!

More about art dealer Dolf D. Van Omme can be found here.
Dolf D. Van Omme: stand 48 at the PAN Amsterdam from November 20th until the 27th of November.

Header image portrait photo courtesy of Adam van Noort, Haarlem.