Fokko Tadama (16 May 1871 – 25 May 1937) was a Dutch painter in the style of the

Hague School The Hague School () is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of re ...

, known primarily for coastal scenes, who spent much of his career in the United States. He was also a teacher and focused primarily on Japanese immigrant students.

Biography

He was born in

Banda Aceh Banda Aceh (; , Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of 35 metres. The city covers an area of and had a population of 223,446 peopl ...

, Indonesia. His father, Reinier Tadama (1844–1879), was a colonial administrator in

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

and his mother was his father's mistress; a local woman. He was orphaned when his father died of tuberculosis while at a health spa in Germany. Having been taken to the Netherlands, he remained there and received his first artistic training from the landscape painter Sieger Jan Baukema (1852–1936). Later, he attended the

Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. It is a classical academy, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. The school supports ...

in Amsterdam. In 1895 he married Thamine Tadama-Groeneveld, who was also a painter. In 1897 they settled in

Egmond aan den Hoef Egmond aan den Hoef () is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about west of Alkmaar. Until 2001, Egmond aan den Hoef was part of the municipality of Egmond. The village was fir ...

and became part of the , led by George Hitchcock.Biography
@ the Cascadia Art Museum. They both specialized in seascapes. In 1898, they had a joint exhibition at the

Société des Artistes Français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...

in Paris. By now, the critics had come to consider Thamine as the better artist and Fokko worked mostly as her assistant. In 1900, he gave up painting and devoted his time to hunting and caring for his large kennel of dogs. In 1907 they relocated to

Katwijk aan Zee Katwijk aan Zee (literally, ''Katwijk-on-Sea'') is a seaside resort located on the North Sea at the mouth of the Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn. It is situated in the municipality of Katwijk and the province of South Holland. ...

. The progress of their relationship after that is unclear. Some sources say that Thamine became mentally unsound and had to be institutionalized by 1910, but others indicate that she was exhibiting and winning awards as late as 1912. Whatever the truth may be, in 1910 he emigrated to the United States, crossed the country, settled in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and began painting again. In 1913, he held his first showing in one of the meeting rooms at the

Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is the public library system serving the city of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Efforts to start a Seattle library had commenced as early as 1868, with the system eventually being established by the ci ...

. The following year, he started his own art school. Perhaps because his name could be mistaken for Japanese, he soon became a mentor and patron for many Japanese immigrant artists, including Kenjiro Nomura, Yasushi Tanaka and Shimizu Toshi, as well as the photographer

Soichi Sunami Soichi Sunami (角南壮一, given name translating as "magnificent first son," and family name translating as "south corner"; 1885–1971) was a Japanese and American modernist photographer, influenced by the pictorialist movement, and best ...

. He apparently had a very successful career, until the beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

virtually destroyed the local demand for art. To make ends meet, he found employment as a mural painter with the WPA and took part in the Federal Art Projects. Impoverished, despondent and in declining health, he died by suicide in 1937 in Seattle.
Ancestry.com, Results for Taudama

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadama, Fokko 1871 births 1937 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Hague School Artists who died by suicide People from Banda Aceh 1937 suicides 19th-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Dutch male painters American male painters Painters from Seattle Suicides in Washington (state) 19th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century Dutch male artists Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies