Albert Houthuesen

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Albert Houthuesen (3 October 1903, Amsterdam – 20 October 1979, London) 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 to London; he became naturalized in 1922. He took art classes at St 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.^[1] 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^[2][3]

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.^[3] St Gabriel's Art Department was run by the painter Catherine Dean, who Houthuesen had married in 1931.^[4] Each year during the 1930s Houthuesen and Dean visited Trelogan, Dean's family home, where Houthuesen painted monumental portraits of colliers.^[5]

Reception and style

In 1976 the BBC broadcasted Walk to the Moon - The Story of Albert Houthuesen, a film about Houthuesen's his life and work.^[6] 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".^[7]

During his career, Houthuesen possibly painted about 2000 works, and although many were acquired by major art galleries and collectors, few have been publically exhibited.^[1]

His work was influenced by Rembrandt, Constable, Turner and van Gogh.^{[citation needed]}

Houthuesen's art is autobiographical and belongs to no 20th century school.^{[citation needed]} He worked in virtual isolation^[1] for sixty years, producing still-lives, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits, as well as biblical, mythical and allegorical scenes.^{[citation needed]}

Major public collections

• 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

Further reading

• Rothenstein, John, British Art Since 1900. An Anthology, Phaidon Press (1962)^{[page needed]}
• Houthuesen, Albert; Rothenstein, John, Albert Houthuesen: An Appreciation (1969). ISBN 0950191906
• Rothenstein, John, Modern English Painters volume 2, Macdonald (1974). ISBN 0356103544^{[page needed]}
• Albert Houthuesen 1903-1979. An Artist In Wales. Paintings And Drawings From The 1930's, The National Museums & Galleries Of Wales (1997)
• Buckman, David, Artists In Britain Since 1945, Art Dictionaries Ltd. (2006) ISBN 095326095X^{[page needed]}
• Nathanson, Richard, Walk To The Moon - The Story of Albert Houthuesen, The Putney Press (2008). ISBN 0951621920

References

External links

• Albert Houthuesen 1903 - 1979

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