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ALBERT HOUTHUESEN
The Works
Please click on the dates below each image to view works from that period.
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As Well As I Can
Introduction
The works reproduced here date from 1912 to 1978. They are
united by a humane, highly personal vision that reflects Houthuesen’s
extraordinary life. For him, the clown is a symbol, inseparable in spirit from
the artist and the poet. Many portray the clown as philosopher and saint.
The words accompanying each work are Houthuesen’s. And were spoken in conversation with his biographer Richard Nathanson. Their talks began in 1967, and first appeared in edited form in his 1990 biography of Houthuesen.
Albert and I met mainly at weekends, and conversed over tea in his small sitting-cum dining room, his studio and occasionally in the garden. In 1967 I had seen something of his work. Its beauty and power, and an inner torment I could only sense, moved me indescribably. I was convinced of his greatness. And although I knew virtually nothing about him, I determined to make a study of his life and work.
Our conversations began three weeks after we met. I was twenty and Albert sixty-four. My own youth and search had a direct and natural bearing on the intimate nature of our dialogue, in the years that followed.
Richard Nathanson From his forthcoming revised biography Walk to the Moon – The Story of Albert Houthuesen.
Because of owners’ preference for anonymity, only those works in public collections and belonging to the Albert Houthuesen Trust [‘AHT’] have been designated.
Houthuesen, during the last ten years of his life, produced a moving and powerful body of lithographic work. A representative selection is in Tate Britain. The lithographs reproduced here were chosen because they vividly convey the spirit of the incident or idea they illustrate. And show, as do his words, how intensely he was able to relive and evoke the past, even from early childhood. No image is more tragically ‘present’ than ‘Stone Cutter’ in its depiction of the abiding trauma caused by his father’s death.
Richard Nathanson exclusively represents the Albert Houthuesen Trust. And is preparing the Houthuesen Catalogue Raisonné, also an additional biographical study of the artist which will include an in-depth analysis of individual drawings and paintings. He would be pleased to hear from all those with pictures, letters, photographs and memories of the artist.
Houthuesen
Paintings and Drawings © Albert Houthuesen Trust 2006
Text © Richard Nathanson 2006
Houthuesen lithographic images © Richard Nathanson 2006
Photographs © Richard Nathanson
Walk To The Moon is the translation of the Dutch expression ‘Loop Naar de Maan’ meaning ‘Forget it’. It was how Albert’s mother would respond when, as a child, he asked her for painting materials. The hats worn by many of Albert’s clowns recall those of his Dutch ancestors, in particular the magnificent standing portrait of Willem van Heythuysen by Frans Hals (the artist’s only known life-size full length portrait) and his smaller portrait of the same sitter.
