Gerrit van der Hoef - FOUR (4) Naive [H.C] woodcuts with African scenes - signed

• early graphic work by Gerrit van der Hoef (1879-1954). Unique HC (hors commerce) woodcut "the sawmill" made entirely in the style of the great Mc Escher. Dated around 1950 and signed in pencil. In passe partout - NOT framed. is in good condition.
  

• Van der Hoef was born in Amsterdam, the son of Christiaan van der Hoef and Johanna Petronella Loohuis. He is a brother of artist Chris van der Hoef.

Van der Hoef trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He mastered many techniques. He was, among other things, a watercolourist, wall painter, painter, draftsman, etcher, manufacturer of woodcuts and lino cutter. In 1902 he was invited to submit work for the exhibition of La Libre Esthétique in Brussels. In 1904/1905 he stayed in Rozendaal, where he painted an Art Nouveau mural on the inside of the Protestant Church. In December 1905 he married the artist Frouke van Rossem, seventeen years his senior, in Rheden. The couple went to live in Bergen. In 1907 they were co-founders of the Berger Kunsthandel. Van der Hoef participated in the collective's first exhibitions, but then went on to exhibit elsewhere in the country. When fellow member Hendrik van Bloem moved to The Hague in 1909, he and his wife were no longer mentioned as members. In 1919, Van der Hoef and his wife were again present at the last exhibition. In 1910 he won a prize with his entry in the competition for an advertising poster for an exhibition of the Pictura Veluvensis association in Renkum. The couple moved to The Hague in 1919. In 1928/1929, woodcuts by him were on display at the graphic exhibition in Madrid organized by the Hague art dealer De Bron. His work was purchased by the Spanish government. Van der Hoef died in 1954. He was buried in the family grave at Oud Eik en Duinen cemetery in The Hague.