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{{short description|British painter (1903–1979)}}
{{refimprove|date=March 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| name = Albert Houthuesen
| name = Albert Houthuesen
| image =
| image =
| imagesize =
| image_size =
| caption =
| caption =
| birth_name = Albert Houthuesen
| birth_name = Albertus Antonius Johannes Houthuesen
| birth_date = 3 October 1903
| birth_date = 3 October 1903
| birth_place = [[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]]
| birth_place = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| death_date = 1979
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|10|20|1903|10|3|df=y}}
| death_place = [[London]]
| death_place = [[London]], England
| nationality = Dutch and British
|ancestry = Dutch
| field = [[Painting]]
| field = [[Painting]]
| spouse = [[Catherine Dean (artist)|Catherine Dean]]
| spouse = [[Catherine Dean (artist)|Catherine Dean]]
| training = [[Saint Martin's School of Art]], [[Royal College of Art]]
| training = Fleet Road Elementary School{{r|Nathanson|p=24-30}}<br />[[Saint Martin's School of Art]]<br />[[Royal College of Art]]
}}
}}
__NOTOC__
'''Albert Houthuesen''' (3 October 1903, [[Amsterdam]] &ndash; 20 October 1979, London) was a [[Netherlands|Dutch]]-born [[UK|British]] artist.


'''Albertus Antonius Johannes Houthuesen''' ({{IPA|nl|ɑlˈbɛrtʏs ˈhʌutˌhysə(n)|lang}}; 3 October 1903 – 20 October 1979), known as '''Albert Houthuesen''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|h|aʊ|tj|uː|z|ən}} {{respell|HOW|tew|zən}}), was a Dutch-born British artist.
Houthuesen was born in Amsterdam; his father was Jean Charles Pierre Houthuesen, a painter and musician. In 1912, following the death of his father, he came to London; he became naturalized in 1922. He took art classes at [[Saint Martin's School of Art]] while working for a furniture maker, and in an architect's office. He attended the [[Royal College of Art]] between 1923 and 1927, with contemporaries [[Henry Moore]], [[Barbara Hepworth]], [[Edward Burra]], [[Ceri Richards]] and [[Cecil Collins]].<ref name=NYT>Melikian,Souren, [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/arts/09iht-melik9.html?_r=1&ref=takashimurakami "Contemporary Art Works of Often Subtle Beauty"]; ''The New York Times'', 8 October 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012</ref> From 1928 to 1936 he taught art classes at The [[Working Men's College]] with colleagues [[Percy Horton]] and [[Barnett Freedman]], under the Directorship of [[James Laver]]<ref name=Barnes>Barnes, Janet (1982), ''Percy Horton 1897 – 1970'' p.17, Sheffield City Art Galleries ISBN 0900660856</ref><ref name=Tate>[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/albert-houthuesen-1315 "Albert Houthuesen"], artist biography, [[Tate]]. Retrieved 13 May 2012</ref>


== Life ==
During the Second World War he worked as a draughtsman at Doncaster. After the War he taught at St Gabriel's College, Camberwell, and collected artworks that became the College collection.<ref name=Tate/> St Gabriel's Art Department was run by the painter [[Catherine Dean (artist)|Catherine Dean]], who Houthuesen had married in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |author=Whaite, Gillian | url=http://www.culham.ac.uk/sg/remembered/whaite.php |title=Art and the St Gabriel’s Collection | publisher=St Gabriel's Programme, Culham Institute | accessdate=13 May 2012 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812111749/http://www.culham.ac.uk/sg/remembered/whaite.php | archivedate=12 August 2007 }}</ref> Each year during the 1930s Houthuesen and Dean visited [[Trelogan]], Dean's family home, where Houthuesen painted monumental portraits of colliers.<ref>[http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/art/online/?action=show_item&item=779 "Houthuesen, Albert (1903 - 1979)"], [[National Museum Cardiff|National Museum of Wales]]. Retrieved 13 May 2012</ref>
=== Early life and training ===
Albert Houthuesen was born in the [[Oude Pijp]] neighbourhood of Amsterdam, at 263 Albert Cuypstraat, the eldest of the four children of Jean Charles Pierre Houthuesen (1877–1911), a painter and musician, and his wife Elisabeth Petronella Emma, née Wedemeyer (1873–1966). After Jean Charles Pierre's early death, when Albert was 8 years old, the family moved near Elisabeth's mother in London, and Elisabeth opened a boarding house at 20 Constantine Road, near Hampstead Heath.{{r|Nathanson|p=19}}


[[File:St martins art school 1.jpg|thumb|The former Saint Martin's School of Art building, in [[Charing Cross Road]]]]
==Reception and style==
In 1976 the [[BBC]] broadcast ''Walk to the Moon - The Story of Albert Houthuesen'', a film about Houthuesen's his life and work.<ref>[http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8939664982967357575&hl=en-GB ''Walk to the Moon - The Story of Albert Houthuesen''], BBC video (1976). Retrieved 13 May 2012</ref> Souren Melikian, in a feature article on Houthuesen in the [[International Herald Tribune]] wrote: "I suspect that Houthuesen will come to be seen as one of the great figures in post-World War II Western art".<ref>Melikian, Souren, ''International Herald Tribune'', 9 October 2010</ref>


Houthuesen left school aged 14 and went to work for a grocer, then as a lens fitter, apprentice engraver, tailor's stencil cutter, and furniture restorer.{{r|Nathanson|p=31-39, 55}} At the same time, he began attending evening classes at [[Saint Martin's School of Art]].{{r|Nathanson|p=32-34}} He shared a studio with artists Gerald Ososki, [[Barnett Freedman]] and Reginald Brill in Howland Street (Fitzrovia).{{r|Nathanson|p=40-44}} Though he loved watching [[Charlie Chaplin]], he preferred theatre to film, particularly enjoying performances by the comedians [[George Robey]] and [[Little Tich]].{{r|Nathanson|p=54-55}}
During his career, Houthuesen possibly painted about 2000 works, and although many were acquired by major art galleries and collectors, few have been publicly exhibited.<ref name=NYT/>


In 1921, he made the first of three trips to Holland, spending time with an uncle, the painter and potter Bernard Boeziek.{{r|Nathanson|p=45-47}} He became a British citizen in 1922.{{r|Nathanson|p=248}} In 1923–1924, he was designing lettering for the architectural sculpture firm [[Eric Aumonier|Aumonier]].{{r|Nathanson|p=55-56}}
His work was influenced by [[Rembrandt]], [[John Constable|Constable]], [[Joseph Mallord William Turner|Turner]] and [[Vincent van Gogh|van Gogh]].{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}


Thanks to [[William Rothenstein]], principal of the [[Royal College of Art]], Houthuesen was eventually able to obtain a scholarship to attend the RCA between 1924 and 1927,{{r|Nathanson|p=56-71}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Rothenstein |first=William |date=1940 |title=Since fifty: Men and memories, 1922–1938 |publisher=Macmillan |page=24}} [https://archive.org/details/sincefiftymenand002770mbp/page/n53/mode/2up]</ref> with contemporaries [[Henry Moore]], [[Barbara Hepworth]], [[Edward Burra]], [[Ceri Richards]] and [[Cecil Collins (artist)|Cecil Collins]].{{r|NYT}} Rothenstein invited Houthuesen to stay when his deeply unhappy home life prevented him from studying effectively.{{r|Nathanson|p=57-62}} [[Vivian Pitchforth]] is reported to have seen particular promise in Houthuesen's student work.<ref>[[Helen Binyon]], ''[[Eric Ravilious]]: Memoir of an artist'' (Guildford, 1983), p.32.</ref>
Houthuesen's art is autobiographical and belongs to no 20th century school.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} He worked in virtual isolation<ref name=NYT/> for sixty years, producing [[still life|still-lives]], [[landscape art|landscape]]s, [[seascape]]s, and [[portrait painting|portrait]]s, as well as biblical, mythical and allegorical scenes.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}


=== Teaching and painting ===
==Major public collections==
[[File:Working Men's College main building.jpg|thumb|The Working Men's College in [[Camden Town|Camden]]]]
* The [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford
* [[The British Museum]], London
* City Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle
* Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
* City Art Gallery, Leeds
* [[National Museum Cardiff]], Wales
* Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery
* [[Royal Air Force Museum]], Hendon
* The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent
* [[Tate Britain]], London
* The Theatre Museum, London
* [[Ulster Museum]], Belfast
* [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London


In 1927, at the RCA, Houthuesen also met his future wife [[Catherine Dean (artist)|Catherine Dean]].{{r|Nathanson|p=73-74}} He stayed on at college as a student demonstrator until the following summer.{{r|Nathanson|p=248}} He then gave evening art classes at the [[Mary Ward Centre|Mary Ward Settlement]] and the [[Working Men's College]] with colleagues [[Percy Horton]] and Barnett Freedman, under the directorship of [[James Laver]].{{r|Nathanson|p=75-76}} <ref name=Barnes>Janet Barnes, ''Percy Horton 1897–1970'' (Sheffield City Art Galleries, 1982), p.17, {{ISBN|0900660856}}.</ref> He taught at the Working Men's College until 1938.{{r|Nathanson|p=105}} In 1929, he undertook his first commission for [[Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford]], making copies of enamel miniature portraits.{{r|Nathanson|p=76, 248}}
==Published works==
* Houthuesen, Albert; Rothenstein, John, ''Albert Houthuesen: An Appreciation'' (1969). ISBN 0950191906


[[File:Terraced houses, Abbey Gardens, NW8 (2) - geograph.org.uk - 2456917.jpg|thumb|Abbey Gardens, [[St John's Wood]]]]
==References==
{{reflist}}


Albert Houthuesen married Catherine Dean in 1931. They lived in a flat at 20 Abbey Gardens in St John's Wood.{{r|Nathanson|p=82, 105}} Throughout the 1930s they visited [[Trelogan]], near the [[Point of Ayr]] colliery in north east Wales, staying in Mersey Cottage,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.de/usernet/awc/awc_workdetail.asp?aid=425934468&gid=425934468&cid=267320&wid=426211813&page=3|title=Albert Houthuesen|access-date=2022-09-03|website=www.artnet.de}}</ref> owned by Catherine's aunts.{{r|Nathanson|p=85, 97, 113}} Here Houthuesen painted landscapes and portraits of colliers.
==Further reading==

*Nathanson, Richard, ''Walk To The Moon - The Story of Albert Houthuesen'', The Putney Press (2008). ISBN 0951621920
In spring 1936, Houthuesen suffered an internal hemorrhage due to a [[Peptic ulcer disease|duodenal ulcer]], from which it took him a long time to recover.{{r|Nathanson|p=102}}
*[[John Rothenstein|Rothenstein, John]], ''British Art Since 1900. An Anthology'', Phaidon Press (1962){{page needed|date=May 2012}}

*Rothenstein, John, ''Modern English Painters'' volume 2, Macdonald (1974). ISBN 0356103544{{page needed|date=May 2012}}
When Herbrand Russell's wife, the aviator and ornithologist [[Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford]], died in a plane crash in March 1937, the duke commissioned a stained-glass memorial window in [[St Mary's Church, Woburn]] of Saint [[Francis of Assisi]] surrounded by birds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nathanson |first=Richard |date=2008 |title=Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen |publisher=The Putney Press |page=103 |isbn=978-0-9516219-2-9}} See the photo on the webpage of the Church of St Mary in Woburn [https://bedfordshireparishchurches.co.uk/wp/woburn/]</ref>
*Buckman, David, ''Artists In Britain Since 1945'', Art Dictionaries Ltd. (2006) ISBN 095326095X{{page needed|date=May 2012}}

In 1938, the Houthuesens moved to 37b Greville Road, not far from their previous London home.{{r|Nathanson|p=106}}

=== War work ===
In September 1940 the house of the Houthuesens' immediate neighbour and landlord, sculptor [[Alfred Frank Hardiman]], was bombed in [[the Blitz]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=37A Greville Road, London NW6, England – Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/place.php?id=msib6_1235403063|access-date=2022-09-03|website=sculpture.gla.ac.uk}}</ref> Nobody was hurt, but the house was uninhabitable.{{r|Nathanson|p=110}} The Houthuesens returned to Trelogan.{{r|Nathanson|p=113-114}}

[[File:Loversall - geograph.org.uk - 487832.jpg|thumb|Loversall]]

From late 1941 until the end of the war, they lived in Yorkshire, just south of [[Doncaster]], where St Gabriel's College, the teacher training college where Catherine worked, was evacuated. They lived first in a cottage in [[Letwell]], then in the Farm House in [[#Loversall as a Conservation area|Loversall]], and by summer 1943 at 21 St Mary's Gate in [[Tickhill]].{{r|Nathanson|p=111-34}} Houthuesen was rejected from the army on health grounds and worked as a draughtsman for the [[London and North Eastern Railway]] at the [[Doncaster Works]]. He suffered a severe nervous breakdown and was discharged in March 1944.{{r|Nathanson|p=115-126}}

He made his first clown drawings in 1944, after seeing a family of Russian Jewish clowns, the Hermans, at the [[Grand Theatre, Doncaster|Grand Theatre in Doncaster]].{{r|Nathanson|p=131-133}}

=== After the war ===
[[File:Love Walk, SE5 - geograph.org.uk - 1751642.jpg|thumb|Love Walk, [[Denmark Hill]]]]
The Houthuesens returned to London at the end of the war and lived in Lady Margaret Vicarage in Chatham Street, Southwark, where they acted as wardens for St Gabriel's College students accommodated there.{{r|Nathanson|p=137-39}} Houthuesen was able to attend ballets at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] and the [[Adelphi Theatre]], such as ''Los Caprichos'' (inspired by the [[Los caprichos|Goya etchings]]),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Museum|first=Victoria and Albert|title=Sketch Book {{pipe}} Houthuesen, Albertus Antonicus Johannes {{pipe}} V&A Explore The Collections|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138881/|access-date=2022-09-03|website=Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections|language=en}}</ref> [[Petrushka (ballet)|''Petrushka'']], ''[[The Three-Cornered Hat]]'', and ''[[Les Sylphides]]''.{{r|Nathanson|p=140-149}}

In autumn 1950, the Houthuesens moved again, to (then) semi-derelict Stone Hall with overgrown gardens, in [[Oxted]], Surrey, and then again, in July 1952, to their final home at 5 Love Walk, in Denmark Hill, Camberwell.{{r|Nathanson|p=152-57, 249}}

Houthuesen helped to build up the art collection at St Gabriel's College.{{r|Culham}}<ref>''Catalogue to the St. Gabriel's College collection'' (Camberwell, 1964).</ref> His acquisitions included a woodcut of ''The Ecstasy of Mary Madgalene'' by [[Albrecht Dürer]], a pencil drawing of Whitehaven on the Cumbrian coast by [[J. M. W. Turner]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joseph Mallord William Turner RA, British 1775-1851- View of Whitehaven; pencil, sheet with watermark Whatman 1808, 22.5x35.7cm Provenance: The Collection of Culham St Gabriel College, London Note: The present work belongs to a group of loose sheets, including several other Whitehaven subjects, on similarly-sized Whatman paper dated 1808 in the watermark. They date mainly from 1809 when Turner visited Cumbria to execute commissions from Lord Egremont at Cockermouth Castle and Lord Lonsdale at|url=https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/188/lot/83486|access-date=2022-09-03|website=auctions.roseberys.co.uk}}</ref> a preparatory pencil drawing of three horses' heads for ''The Frugal Meal'' by [[John Frederick Herring Sr.]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Frederick Herring I, British 1795-1865- ''The Frugal Meal''; pencil, signed J F Herring Sen and dated 1847, 19x24.5cm Provenance: From the art collection at the former St Gabriel's College, Camberwell. St Gabriel's was a Church of England teacher training college, founded in 1899 and closed in 1978. Its Art Department attracted talented teachers and artists whose vocation was to inspire young teachers through studying and imitating the work of great artists. The paintings and drawings in th|url=https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/31/lot/10730|access-date=2022-09-03|website=auctions.roseberys.co.uk}}</ref> and an aquatint of ''Christ'' by [[Georges Rouault]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Georges Rouault, French 1871-1958- ''He has been maltreated and oppressed and he has not opened his mouth [Isaiah 53:7]'', (C&R. 74c), plate 21 for the Miserere, 1922; drypoint etching with aquatint, burnisher and roulette, 57x40cm, (may be subject to Droit de Suite) Provenance: with The Zwemmer Gallery, London, according to label attached to the reverse From the St Gabriel's College collection according to label attached to the reverse|url=https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/34/lot/13772|access-date=2022-09-03|website=auctions.roseberys.co.uk}}</ref> After the college closed in 1978, the collection was transferred to an educational trust and subsequently loaned to [[Goldsmiths, University of London]].

=== Later life ===
Houthuesen suffered continued ill-health, spending eight weeks in the [[Gordon Hospital]] in spring and summer 1961, three weeks in [[King's College Hospital]] in early 1965, and suffering a stroke in the 1970s.{{r|Nathanson|p=166-167, 171, 3}}

In 1976 the [[BBC]] broadcast ''Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen'', a film about Houthuesen's life and work, directed by John Armstrong (1928–2004).<ref>[http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8939664982967357575&hl=en-GB ''Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329122338/http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8939664982967357575&hl=en-GB |date=29 March 2012 }}, BBC video (1976). Retrieved 13 May 2012.</ref> The title is a reference to the Dutch expression ''Loop naar de maan'', Houthuesen's mother's response to requests for art supplies.{{r|Nathanson|p=1}}

Albert Houthuesen died on 20 October 1979. A memorial exhibition was held in 1981 at the [[South London Gallery|South London Art Gallery]].{{r|Culham}}

== Selected paintings ==
During his career, Houthuesen possibly painted about 2000 works, and although many were acquired by major art galleries and collectors, few have been publicly exhibited.<ref name=NYT /> In 2021 Houthuesen's ''Hedger and Ditcher: Portrait of William Lloyd'' (1937) was chosen to replace the portrait of slave owner Sir [[Thomas Picton]] in the [[National Museum Cardiff]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Conrad Duncan|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thomas-picton-portrait-museum-cardiff-b1950845.html|title=Thomas Picton: Cardiff museum takes down portrait of slave owner: Painting of disgraced former governor of Trinidad to be replaced by 'celebratory portrait' of worker|publisher=Independent|date=3 November 2021|access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref>

* 1927 ''The Supper at Emmaus'' ([[Potteries Museum & Art Gallery]], Stoke-on-Trent) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-supper-at-emmaus-19966 View]
* 1927 ''The Traveller'' ([[Leeds Art Gallery]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-traveller-38129 View]
* 1933 ''The Collier'' (William Jones){{r|Nathanson|p=89-90, 95}} ([[Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust|Museums Sheffield]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-collier-72361 View]
* 1933 ''Painted in a Welsh Village'', portrait of Harry Jones ([[Tate]]) [https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/houthuesen-painted-in-a-welsh-village-n04972 View]
* 1933 ''Grain Barrels'' (Museums Sheffield) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/grain-barrels-72362 View]
* 1934 ''Jones, White Horse Farm'' (National Museum Cardiff) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/jones-white-horse-farm-161002 View]
* 1934 ''Wheels, Maes Gwyn Farm'' ([[Llanasa]], near [[Holywell, Flintshire]]) ([[Ulster Museum]], Belfast) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/wheels-maes-gwyn-farm-122181 View]
* 1935 ''Maes Gwyn Stack Yard'' (Tate) [https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/houthuesen-maes-gwyn-stack-yard-n05328 View]
* 1935 ''The [[Bebington]] Stable'' (Leeds Art Gallery) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-bebington-stable-37715 View]
* 1935 ''Jo Parry, Welsh Collier''<ref>According to Jo Parry, he was seventeen when Houthuesen painted his portrait and the papers on the table beside him were his first sermon as a local preacher. Hanging from his jacket is the tally that was exchanged for a lamp at the start of each shift in the mine ({{cite book |last=Nathanson |first=Richard |date=2008 |title=Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen |publisher=The Putney Press |pages=96–98 |isbn=978-0-9516219-2-9}}).</ref> (National Museum Cardiff) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/jo-parry-welsh-collier-160210 View]
* 1937 ''Hedger and Ditcher: Portrait of William Lloyd''<ref>William Price Lloyd was the older brother of the singer [[David Lloyd (tenor)|David Lloyd]] ({{cite book |last=Nathanson |first=Richard |date=2008 |title=Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen |publisher=The Putney Press |page=88 |isbn=978-0-9516219-2-9}}).</ref> (National Museum Cardiff) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/hedger-and-ditcher-portrait-of-william-lloyd-160209 View]
* 1939–1940 ''Crown of Thorns'' (Tate) [https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/houthuesen-crown-of-thorns-n05122 View]
* 1943 ''Flying Officer Herbert Houtheusen [sic] (b.1915)'' ([[Royal Air Force Museum]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/flying-officer-herbert-houtheusen-b-1915-135892 View]
* c.1944 ''A Shell and Flowers'' ([[#Nottingham Castle Museum|Nottingham Castle]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-shell-and-flowers-47298 View]
* 1956–1960 ''Still Life with Mulberry Leaves'' (Leeds Art Gallery) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/still-life-with-mulberry-leaves-37714 View]
* 1965 ''Evening'' ([[Yale Center for British Art]], New Haven, Connecticut) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/evening-247583 View]
* 1968 ''Barrier'' ([[County Hall, Glenfield|County Hall, Leicestershire County Council Artworks Collection]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/barrier-82489 View]
* 1968 ''Night Sea, Autumn'' ([[Ashmolean Museum]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/night-sea-autumn-142153 View]
* 1970 ''Ravine'' ([[Pallant House Gallery]], Chichester) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/ravine-70623 View]
* 1972 ''April Moon, the Gateway'' (Leeds Art Gallery) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/april-moon-the-gateway-37443 View]
* 1974 ''Harlequin'' ([[Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery|Heritage Doncaster]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/harlequin-261620 View]
* Undated ''Implements of the Passion'' ([[Campion Hall, Oxford]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/implements-of-the-passion-221807 View]
* Undated ''Still Life of Pears'' ([[St Anne's College, Oxford]]) [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/still-life-of-pears-223156 View]

== Reception ==
The art critic [[Souren Melikian]] has written: "I suspect that Houthuesen will come to be seen as one of the great figures in post-World War II Western art".{{r|NYT}}

== Published works ==
* Albert Houthuesen and [[John Rothenstein]], ''Albert Houthuesen: An Appreciation'' (London, Mercury, 1969), {{ISBN|0950191906}}

== Further reading ==
*John Rothenstein, ''British Art Since 1900. An Anthology'' (Phaidon Press, 1962){{page needed|date=May 2012}}
*Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, ''The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture'', volume 1 (London, Tate Gallery Catalogues, 1964){{page needed|date=March 2022}}
*John Rothenstein, ''Modern English Painters'', volume 2 (Macdonald, 1974), {{ISBN|0356103544}}{{page needed|date=May 2012}}
*James Huntington-Whiteley, ''Albert Houthuesen, 1903–1979: An Artist in Wales: Paintings and Drawings From the 1930s'' (Penarth, National Museums & Galleries of Wales, 1997)
*David Buckman, ''Artists in Britain Since 1945'' (Art Dictionaries Ltd., 2006), {{ISBN|095326095X}}{{page needed|date=May 2012}}
*Richard Nathanson, ''Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen'' (The Putney Press, 2008), {{ISBN|0951621920}}. <br />Transcriptions of conversations with Houthuesen beginning in late 1967, with commentaries by Catherine Dean, Jo Parry, William Price Lloyd and Herbert Houthuesen, alongside 250 illustrations.

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Nathanson>{{cite book |last=Nathanson |first=Richard |date=2008 |title=Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen |publisher=The Putney Press |isbn=978-0-9516219-2-9}}</ref>
<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news|last=Melikian|first=Souren|date=2010-10-08|title=Contemporary Art Works of Often Subtle Beauty|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/arts/09iht-melik9.html|access-date=2022-09-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
<ref name=Culham>{{cite web |author=Gillian Whaite | url=http://www.culham.ac.uk/sg/remembered/whaite.php |title=Art and the St Gabriel's Collection | publisher=St Gabriel's Programme, Culham Institute | accessdate=13 May 2012 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812111749/http://www.culham.ac.uk/sg/remembered/whaite.php | archivedate=12 August 2007 }}</ref>
}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
*{{Art UK bio}}
* [http://www.houthuesen.com/ Albert Houthuesen 1903 - 1979]
*[https://www.tate.org.uk/search?q=albert+houthuesen Works by Albert Houthuesen in the Tate collection]
*[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?id_person=A20053 Works by Albert Houthuesen in the V&A collection]
*[http://www.houthuesen.com/Chronology.htm Detailed chronology of Albert Houthuesen's life]
*[http://www.houthuesen.com/ Albert Houthuesen 1903–1979]
*[https://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=1024&lang=en&action=show Jonathan Evens, "The Spirituality of the Artist-Clown. The Significance of the Clown in the Life and Work of Albert Houthuesen"]
*[https://www.tickhillhistorysociety.org.uk/albert-houthuesen Biography of Albert Houthuesen by the Tickhill History Society]
*[https://www.buru.org.uk/record.php?id=771 Record in the Ben Uri Research Unit for the Study of the Jewish and Immigrant Contribution to the Visual Arts in Britain since 1900]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME =Houthuesen, Albert
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = British artist
| DATE OF BIRTH = 3 October 1903
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 20 October 1979
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[London]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houthuesen, Albert}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houthuesen, Albert}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British painters]]
[[Category:20th-century British painters]]
[[Category:People from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:British male painters]]
[[Category:Artists from London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art]]
[[Category:Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art]]
[[Category:British draughtsmen]]
[[Category:British draughtsmen]]
[[Category:British portrait painters]]
[[Category:British still life painters]]
[[Category:British lithographers]]
[[Category:Dutch emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:20th-century British male artists]]
[[Category:20th-century lithographers]]

Latest revision as of 20:47, 23 September 2024

Albert Houthuesen
Born
Albertus Antonius Johannes Houthuesen

3 October 1903
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died20 October 1979(1979-10-20) (aged 76)
London, England
NationalityDutch and British
EducationFleet Road Elementary School[1]: 24-30 
Saint Martin's School of Art
Royal College of Art
Known forPainting
SpouseCatherine Dean

Albertus Antonius Johannes Houthuesen (Dutch: [ɑlˈbɛrtʏs ˈhʌutˌhysə(n)]; 3 October 1903 – 20 October 1979), known as Albert Houthuesen (English: /ˈhaʊtjuːzən/ HOW-tew-zən), was a Dutch-born British artist.

Life

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Early life and training

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Albert Houthuesen was born in the Oude Pijp neighbourhood of Amsterdam, at 263 Albert Cuypstraat, the eldest of the four children of Jean Charles Pierre Houthuesen (1877–1911), a painter and musician, and his wife Elisabeth Petronella Emma, née Wedemeyer (1873–1966). After Jean Charles Pierre's early death, when Albert was 8 years old, the family moved near Elisabeth's mother in London, and Elisabeth opened a boarding house at 20 Constantine Road, near Hampstead Heath.[1]: 19 

The former Saint Martin's School of Art building, in Charing Cross Road

Houthuesen left school aged 14 and went to work for a grocer, then as a lens fitter, apprentice engraver, tailor's stencil cutter, and furniture restorer.[1]: 31-39, 55  At the same time, he began attending evening classes at Saint Martin's School of Art.[1]: 32-34  He shared a studio with artists Gerald Ososki, Barnett Freedman and Reginald Brill in Howland Street (Fitzrovia).[1]: 40-44  Though he loved watching Charlie Chaplin, he preferred theatre to film, particularly enjoying performances by the comedians George Robey and Little Tich.[1]: 54-55 

In 1921, he made the first of three trips to Holland, spending time with an uncle, the painter and potter Bernard Boeziek.[1]: 45-47  He became a British citizen in 1922.[1]: 248  In 1923–1924, he was designing lettering for the architectural sculpture firm Aumonier.[1]: 55-56 

Thanks to William Rothenstein, principal of the Royal College of Art, Houthuesen was eventually able to obtain a scholarship to attend the RCA between 1924 and 1927,[1]: 56-71 [2] with contemporaries Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Edward Burra, Ceri Richards and Cecil Collins.[3] Rothenstein invited Houthuesen to stay when his deeply unhappy home life prevented him from studying effectively.[1]: 57-62  Vivian Pitchforth is reported to have seen particular promise in Houthuesen's student work.[4]

Teaching and painting

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The Working Men's College in Camden

In 1927, at the RCA, Houthuesen also met his future wife Catherine Dean.[1]: 73-74  He stayed on at college as a student demonstrator until the following summer.[1]: 248  He then gave evening art classes at the Mary Ward Settlement and the Working Men's College with colleagues Percy Horton and Barnett Freedman, under the directorship of James Laver.[1]: 75-76  [5] He taught at the Working Men's College until 1938.[1]: 105  In 1929, he undertook his first commission for Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, making copies of enamel miniature portraits.[1]: 76, 248 

Abbey Gardens, St John's Wood

Albert Houthuesen married Catherine Dean in 1931. They lived in a flat at 20 Abbey Gardens in St John's Wood.[1]: 82, 105  Throughout the 1930s they visited Trelogan, near the Point of Ayr colliery in north east Wales, staying in Mersey Cottage,[6] owned by Catherine's aunts.[1]: 85, 97, 113  Here Houthuesen painted landscapes and portraits of colliers.

In spring 1936, Houthuesen suffered an internal hemorrhage due to a duodenal ulcer, from which it took him a long time to recover.[1]: 102 

When Herbrand Russell's wife, the aviator and ornithologist Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, died in a plane crash in March 1937, the duke commissioned a stained-glass memorial window in St Mary's Church, Woburn of Saint Francis of Assisi surrounded by birds.[7]

In 1938, the Houthuesens moved to 37b Greville Road, not far from their previous London home.[1]: 106 

War work

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In September 1940 the house of the Houthuesens' immediate neighbour and landlord, sculptor Alfred Frank Hardiman, was bombed in the Blitz.[8] Nobody was hurt, but the house was uninhabitable.[1]: 110  The Houthuesens returned to Trelogan.[1]: 113-114 

Loversall

From late 1941 until the end of the war, they lived in Yorkshire, just south of Doncaster, where St Gabriel's College, the teacher training college where Catherine worked, was evacuated. They lived first in a cottage in Letwell, then in the Farm House in Loversall, and by summer 1943 at 21 St Mary's Gate in Tickhill.[1]: 111-34  Houthuesen was rejected from the army on health grounds and worked as a draughtsman for the London and North Eastern Railway at the Doncaster Works. He suffered a severe nervous breakdown and was discharged in March 1944.[1]: 115-126 

He made his first clown drawings in 1944, after seeing a family of Russian Jewish clowns, the Hermans, at the Grand Theatre in Doncaster.[1]: 131-133 

After the war

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Love Walk, Denmark Hill

The Houthuesens returned to London at the end of the war and lived in Lady Margaret Vicarage in Chatham Street, Southwark, where they acted as wardens for St Gabriel's College students accommodated there.[1]: 137-39  Houthuesen was able to attend ballets at Covent Garden and the Adelphi Theatre, such as Los Caprichos (inspired by the Goya etchings),[9] Petrushka, The Three-Cornered Hat, and Les Sylphides.[1]: 140-149 

In autumn 1950, the Houthuesens moved again, to (then) semi-derelict Stone Hall with overgrown gardens, in Oxted, Surrey, and then again, in July 1952, to their final home at 5 Love Walk, in Denmark Hill, Camberwell.[1]: 152-57, 249 

Houthuesen helped to build up the art collection at St Gabriel's College.[10][11] His acquisitions included a woodcut of The Ecstasy of Mary Madgalene by Albrecht Dürer, a pencil drawing of Whitehaven on the Cumbrian coast by J. M. W. Turner,[12] a preparatory pencil drawing of three horses' heads for The Frugal Meal by John Frederick Herring Sr.,[13] and an aquatint of Christ by Georges Rouault.[14] After the college closed in 1978, the collection was transferred to an educational trust and subsequently loaned to Goldsmiths, University of London.

Later life

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Houthuesen suffered continued ill-health, spending eight weeks in the Gordon Hospital in spring and summer 1961, three weeks in King's College Hospital in early 1965, and suffering a stroke in the 1970s.[1]: 166-167, 171, 3 

In 1976 the BBC broadcast Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen, a film about Houthuesen's life and work, directed by John Armstrong (1928–2004).[15] The title is a reference to the Dutch expression Loop naar de maan, Houthuesen's mother's response to requests for art supplies.[1]: 1 

Albert Houthuesen died on 20 October 1979. A memorial exhibition was held in 1981 at the South London Art Gallery.[10]

Selected paintings

[edit]

During his career, Houthuesen possibly painted about 2000 works, and although many were acquired by major art galleries and collectors, few have been publicly exhibited.[3] In 2021 Houthuesen's Hedger and Ditcher: Portrait of William Lloyd (1937) was chosen to replace the portrait of slave owner Sir Thomas Picton in the National Museum Cardiff.[16]

Reception

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The art critic Souren Melikian has written: "I suspect that Houthuesen will come to be seen as one of the great figures in post-World War II Western art".[3]

Published works

[edit]
  • Albert Houthuesen and John Rothenstein, Albert Houthuesen: An Appreciation (London, Mercury, 1969), ISBN 0950191906

Further reading

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  • John Rothenstein, British Art Since 1900. An Anthology (Phaidon Press, 1962)[page needed]
  • Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, volume 1 (London, Tate Gallery Catalogues, 1964)[page needed]
  • John Rothenstein, Modern English Painters, volume 2 (Macdonald, 1974), ISBN 0356103544[page needed]
  • James Huntington-Whiteley, Albert Houthuesen, 1903–1979: An Artist in Wales: Paintings and Drawings From the 1930s (Penarth, National Museums & Galleries of Wales, 1997)
  • David Buckman, Artists in Britain Since 1945 (Art Dictionaries Ltd., 2006), ISBN 095326095X[page needed]
  • Richard Nathanson, Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen (The Putney Press, 2008), ISBN 0951621920.
    Transcriptions of conversations with Houthuesen beginning in late 1967, with commentaries by Catherine Dean, Jo Parry, William Price Lloyd and Herbert Houthuesen, alongside 250 illustrations.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Nathanson, Richard (2008). Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen. The Putney Press. ISBN 978-0-9516219-2-9.
  2. ^ Rothenstein, William (1940). Since fifty: Men and memories, 1922–1938. Macmillan. p. 24. [1]
  3. ^ a b c Melikian, Souren (8 October 2010). "Contemporary Art Works of Often Subtle Beauty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  4. ^ Helen Binyon, Eric Ravilious: Memoir of an artist (Guildford, 1983), p.32.
  5. ^ Janet Barnes, Percy Horton 1897–1970 (Sheffield City Art Galleries, 1982), p.17, ISBN 0900660856.
  6. ^ "Albert Houthuesen". www.artnet.de. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  7. ^ Nathanson, Richard (2008). Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen. The Putney Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-9516219-2-9. See the photo on the webpage of the Church of St Mary in Woburn [2]
  8. ^ "37A Greville Road, London NW6, England – Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  9. ^ Museum, Victoria and Albert. "Sketch Book | Houthuesen, Albertus Antonicus Johannes | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  10. ^ a b Gillian Whaite. "Art and the St Gabriel's Collection". St Gabriel's Programme, Culham Institute. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  11. ^ Catalogue to the St. Gabriel's College collection (Camberwell, 1964).
  12. ^ "Joseph Mallord William Turner RA, British 1775-1851- View of Whitehaven; pencil, sheet with watermark Whatman 1808, 22.5x35.7cm Provenance: The Collection of Culham St Gabriel College, London Note: The present work belongs to a group of loose sheets, including several other Whitehaven subjects, on similarly-sized Whatman paper dated 1808 in the watermark. They date mainly from 1809 when Turner visited Cumbria to execute commissions from Lord Egremont at Cockermouth Castle and Lord Lonsdale at". auctions.roseberys.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  13. ^ "John Frederick Herring I, British 1795-1865- The Frugal Meal; pencil, signed J F Herring Sen and dated 1847, 19x24.5cm Provenance: From the art collection at the former St Gabriel's College, Camberwell. St Gabriel's was a Church of England teacher training college, founded in 1899 and closed in 1978. Its Art Department attracted talented teachers and artists whose vocation was to inspire young teachers through studying and imitating the work of great artists. The paintings and drawings in th". auctions.roseberys.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Georges Rouault, French 1871-1958- He has been maltreated and oppressed and he has not opened his mouth [Isaiah 53:7], (C&R. 74c), plate 21 for the Miserere, 1922; drypoint etching with aquatint, burnisher and roulette, 57x40cm, (may be subject to Droit de Suite) Provenance: with The Zwemmer Gallery, London, according to label attached to the reverse From the St Gabriel's College collection according to label attached to the reverse". auctions.roseberys.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  15. ^ Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen Archived 29 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, BBC video (1976). Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  16. ^ Conrad Duncan (3 November 2021). "Thomas Picton: Cardiff museum takes down portrait of slave owner: Painting of disgraced former governor of Trinidad to be replaced by 'celebratory portrait' of worker". Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  17. ^ According to Jo Parry, he was seventeen when Houthuesen painted his portrait and the papers on the table beside him were his first sermon as a local preacher. Hanging from his jacket is the tally that was exchanged for a lamp at the start of each shift in the mine (Nathanson, Richard (2008). Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen. The Putney Press. pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-0-9516219-2-9.).
  18. ^ William Price Lloyd was the older brother of the singer David Lloyd (Nathanson, Richard (2008). Walk to the Moon: The Story of Albert Houthuesen. The Putney Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-9516219-2-9.).
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