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Willem Arnoldus Witsen (13 August 1860 – 13 April 1923, Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter and photographer associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement.
Witsen's work, influenced by James McNeill Whistler, often portrayed calm urban landscapes as well as agricultural scenes.Steven Adams, Anna Gruetzner Robins (2025). 9780719056284, University of Manchester. . ISBN 9780719056284 He also created portraits and photographs of prominent figures of the Amsterdam art world, as well as other artists, such as French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.
Witsen belonged to the Tachtigers, a group of young artists who proclaimed the principle of l'art pour l'art Art for art's sake. The group influenced Dutch artistic and political life during the 1890s. Witsen wrote under a pseudonym in the literary magazine De Nieuwe Gids, which he also supported financially. His circle of friends included the painters George Hendrik Breitner, Isaac Israëls, and Jan Veth and the writers Lodewijk van Deyssel, Albert Verwey, Willem Kloos, and Herman Gorter.
During visits to London, Witsen became acquainted with the paintings of James McNeill Whistler, whose influence can be seen in Witsen's View of Victoria Embankment in London. Witsen worked in artist's colonies in Laren, Rotterdam, Wijk bij Duurstede and Ede. He made his studies of the small town Dordrecht while sitting in a boat, which gave him the special lower viewpoint which is characteristic of his works in that town.
After returning to Amsterdam, Witsen became a member of the artists circle Maatschappij Arti et Amicitiae. He was also a member of the artists association Sint Lucas, which is named after Saint Luke, patron of the painters. Witsen's works are distinguishable from those of a contemporary European style, Impressionism. Their atmosphere is melancholy, depicting austere, wintery, dark scenes. The dark paintings did not sell well at his first solo exhibition, sponsored by the Amsterdam art dealer Van Wisselingh in 1895. A few years later, after his second exhibition, he proved successful with his prints depicting Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and painted views on Ede, and his watercolours were particularly successful.
Prizes granted to him at the World's Fair in Paris and St. Louis brought him to the attention of an international public. Here Witsen showed prints and paintings of Venice. He experimented with colour etching and continued with portraits and floral still lifes that he produced during his whole career. He visited the Art's Fair of 1915 in San Francisco and traveled to the Dutch East-Indies a few years before his death.
The romanticism Dutch writer Nescio portrayed the main character of his story Verliefdheid ( Being in love) from March 1919 as the occupier of this house.Verhoeff, Maurits (1997) Is u Amsterdammer? Ja, Goddank uitg. Bas Lubberhuizen , blz 84 The Dutch writer Marga Minco lived here from 1949 to 1970 with her husband . Among the later occupiers of the house were the writers Jan Kal and Thomas Rosenboom.
Witsenhuis now is available as temporary housing for writers.
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Categories: 1860 Births, 1923 Deaths, Willem, Dutch Etchers, 19th-century Etchers, Photographers From Amsterdam, Painters From Amsterdam, Royal Academy Of Fine Arts Alumni, 19th-century Dutch Painters, Dutch Male Painters, 20th-century Dutch Painters, 20th-century Dutch Printmakers, 19th-century Dutch Photographers, 19th-century Dutch Male Artists, 20th-century Dutch Male Artists, Alumni Of Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten
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