D. (DICK) KET 1902 Den Helder (The Netherlands) - 1940 Bennekom (The Netherlands) Self Portrait with Landscape

Details

Self-portrait with a landscape is a key work within his oeuvre. It served as a prototype for many self-portraits that followed. Here, for the first time, he painted himself as a painter. Until this painting, he had produced several self-portraits, but he had not depicted himself at work. Interestingly, this painting also seems to have been the first occasion for him to paint his hands, which show the signs of his illness. He had nail clubbing, or so-called drumstick fingers, as a result of his heart failure. He self-consciously combined the display of his profession with the symptoms of his disease. In later works, he even painted his hands with a strong focus on his blue, swollen finger nails.

The present work is not painted on canvas but on panel. Along the left side of the composition, Ket painted a canvas nailed to a stretcher, seen from the side. This trompe-l’oeil element raises the question of whether the canvas is part of the painting opposite Ket or the side of the painting the spectator is looking at. One also wonders whether the present composition and the painting that he is painting could be identical. The position of the brush point increases the play between the surfaces of the paintings. Ket applied the same trompe-l’oeil element in several subsequent self-portraits. This drawing was exhibited at the exhibition of the artist’s society Arti et Amicitae in Amsterdam in the autumn of 1935. The jury awarded it a gold medal. The work was acquired by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Ket’s work is an intriguing synthesis of traditional and modern elements. He was inspired by Old Master paintings, particularly the Flemish Primitives, and by contemporary art and design. Like other artists in Europe in the twenties and thirties, he was searching for a new visual language to express his observations in a realist manner. In Self-portrait with a landscape, Ket reinterprets the traditional subject of a portrait set against a landscape in a modern vein. He zooms in so that his likeness almost covers the entire picture plane. In contrast to the Old Masters, Ket was less interested in creating a sense of depth. The landscape in the background is recognisable but painted like a pattern. This, together with the frontality of his likeness, makes the composition flat and modern. Contemporary posters and commercial design contain similar flat compositions. Ket had an interest in poster design. He kept several at his atelier and also painted them in some of his still lifes.

Art dealer Carel van Lier acknowledged Ket’s talent during his lifetime. He exhibited the artist’s work at his celebrated gallery, Kunstzaal Van Lier, in Amsterdam, and sold several of his paintings. Self-portrait with a landscape was shown at Ket’s commemorative exhibition in 1941. Art collector Prof. Dr. Gerard Kraus was a doctor and psychiatrist. Intrigued by Ket and his self-portrait, he acquired it from Van Lier.

Dick Ket was a Dutch painter active in the first half of the twentieth century. He was born in 1902 with a serious heart defect – probably tetralogy of Fallot, or blue baby syndrome. This disease was incurable at the time, and Ket’s physical condition was frail throughout his life. His parents did all they could to give their only child as normal a life as possible. Yet Ket depended on their support throughout his life.

While he was in secondary school, two teachers recognised his talent and encouraged his artistic ambitions. Johan Kerkemeijer, his drawing teacher, advised him to develop his artistic skills and directed him towards oil painting. His other mentor, Henri Naber, taught chemistry and physics. He was a convinced theosophist and published on the relationship between geometry and mysticism. These ideas had a profound impact on Ket’s vision of life. From 1922 to 1925, Ket attended the art academy in Arnhem.

In the following years, Ket was debilitated by chronic fatigue caused by his illness and by growing phobias – especially agoraphobia. He ended up living in seclusion with his parents in Bennekom. The small church tower of Bennekom can be seen in the background of his self-portrait. Ket rarely left his house after 1930 and died several days before his 38th birthday. His posthumously published letters revealed his sense of humour and self-irony, his passion for the arts, his love of literature, music, and cinema, as well as his fondness for wordplay and mystery.