J.W. (WILLY) SLUITER

Biography

J.W. (WILLY) SLUITER
1873 Amersfoort - 1949 The Hague

Willy Sluiter was schooled as a painter at the Dutch academies of Rotterdam and The Hague. The influence of the Hague School of painters is visible in his early landscapes and seascapes which also, however, show the influence of the Amsterdam impressionists. Around the turn of the century, Sluiter lived in Katwijk. There, he painted beachscapes and seascapes with fishers and their boats. In 1910 he moved to the artist’s village of Laren, where he painted farmer’s interiors in the Gooi and shepherds on heathland. He also spent much time working in Volendam in this period.

After Sluiter settled in The Hague in 1916, he increasingly focused on portraying the cosmopolitan lifestyle of high society. The fishers of Katwijk were replaced by beachgoers in what by then had become chic Scheveningen. He became a much-requested portrait artist and was furthermore successful in advertising, designing posters, illustrations and book covers. He also received orders from the Royal Family. His fame grew internationally, especially in England and America. He loved travelling through Europe, depicting high society. Willy Sluiter was always active in social life: he was member of Pictura in Dordrecht, Pulchri Studio in The Hague and Arti et Amacitiae in Amsterdam.

Willy Sluiter’s work can be viewed, among other places, in the Dordrecht Museum, the Katwijk Museum, Boijmans van Beuningen, the Rijksmuseum and Singer Laren.