Jan Willem "Willy" Sluiter (24 May 1873 in

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

– 22 May 1949 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

) was a Dutch painter. He was best known for his paintings of Dutch villages and its dwellers, and also did portraits of members of Dutch

high society High society, sometimes simply Society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open ...

. His work was part of the art competitions at four Olympic Games.

Family

Sluiter was a member of a family of ministers. Sluiter grew up in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

(until 1883) and Zwijndrecht (from 1883) as the son of

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

mr. Jan Willem Sluiter (1839–1902) and Johanna Hillegonda Cornelia Suermondt (1846–1931). In 1901 he married Agatha Anna Louise van Nievervaart (1874–1957) and had a daughter with her, Johanna Adriana (1902–1991).

Career

Sluiter became a versatile artist. He lived and worked in more than one place, in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, but also in villages that were popular with painters such as

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

Katwijk Katwijk () is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and i ...

and Laren. Sluiter was a member of many art societies, including Pictura in Dordrecht,

Arti et Amicitiae Arti et Amicitiae (lat .: For Art and Friendship) is a Dutch artist's society founded in 1839, and located on the Rokin in Amsterdam. The Society (also called Arti for short) has played a key role in the Netherlands art scene and in particular in ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Pulchri Studio Pulchri Studio (Latin language, Latin:"For the study of beauty") is a Dutch art society, art institution and art studio based in The Hague ('s-Gravenhage), Netherlands. This institute began in 1847 at the home of painter Netherlandse kunstschil ...

. He was a student at the Rotterdam Academy of Visual Arts from 1891 to 1894 followed by taking lessons at the Hague Academy of Visual Arts. He became a well-known painter,

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

political cartoons A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

, made many posters, worked as a freelancer for advertising jobs and also designed

book cover A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...

s. Well-known are the 38 covers for sheet music that he designed for publisher Scheltens and Giltay between 1920 and 1925; those were cabaret texts by the poet

Clinge Doorenbos Clinge is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Hulst, and lies about 28 km southwest of Bergen op Zoom. Clinge is located on the Dutch-Belgian border and joins with the Belgian town of De Klinge, i ...

. In 1934 he designed the poster for the touring production of the opera ''

The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed ...

'', starring the American baritone

Jules Bledsoe Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe (December 29, 1897 – July 14, 1943)
by John Troesse ...

in the title role of Brutus Jones. He lived and worked in Zwijndrecht, Dordrecht and Rotterdam until 1894. From 1894 to 1897 he would reside in Scheveningen and from 1901–1910 in Katwijk. In 1910 he settled in Laren and remained there until 1916 when he moved to The Hague. Sluiter's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale ''

Onze Kunst van Heden Onze Kunst van Heden (Contemporary Artists/Our Art of Today) was an exhibition held in the winter of 1939 through 1940 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Due to the threat of invasion in the years leading up to World War II, the Netherlands' g ...

'' (Our Art of Today) at the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

in Amsterdam. The subjects of Sluiter's work often came from the coast and the life of

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

, but he was also a sought-after painter of portraits for the upper class. He captured Hille Butter, a model from

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

several times. In 1999 the

Dordrechts Museum Dordrechts Museum is an art museum in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1842 and has a collection of artists of painting and other artistic objects from the last six centuries. The permanent collection includes numerous paintings f ...

featured an exhibition about the posters of Willy Sluiter for the occasion of his passing being 50 years ago. From 1 October 2013 to 11 January 2014, the Katwijks Museum exhibited his works. Sluiter collaborated with the

Royal Dutch Touring Club The Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB (), known simply as ANWB (), is a travelers' association in the Netherlands, supporting all modes of travel. It provides test reports, travel services and roadside assistance and is comparable to the German '' ...

and created a number of posters for them. The 1926 poster ''Laat niet als dank...'' advertising garbage collection is considered to be iconic in the Netherlands. File:Portrait of Hille Butter (1891-1968) RKD – Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis..jpg, Hille Butter File:Carmen RKD – Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis..jpg, Carmen (1915) File:Dansende Volendammer Zuiderzeemuseum B000548.jpg, Dancing man from Volendam File:Koningin Wilhelmina Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum 1944-1945.jpg, Queen Wilhelmina File:Koren. Het vaderland vraagt koren. Spoedig en veel RKD – Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis..jpg, Poster ''Corn'' File:Jules-Bledsoe-Opera-Poster-Emperor-Jones-By-Jan-Willem-Willy-Sluiter-1934.jpg, Opera ''The Emperor Jones'', 1934

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sluiter, Willy 1873 births 1949 deaths 20th-century Dutch painters Book designers Dutch graphic designers Dutch illustrators People from Amersfoort Art competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1936 Summer Olympics