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The Nabis and Jan Verkade
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The Nabis and Jan Verkade |
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Jan Verkade (1868-1946) was born in Zaandamu in northern Netherlands where his father owned a chocolate company which continues today as the well-known Verkade brand. Jan Verkade was born a twin whose brother Edward became a theatrical director and actor; their sister, Anna married the painter Jan Voerman, who became Verkade's teacher. In 1890 he attended an exhibition in Brussels where he saw the works of Van Gogh and met the artist's mother. Verkade then traveled to Paris where he was noticed by Dutch painter Meijer de Haan, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Sérusier, and went to work in the latter's studio alongside Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri and Paul Ranson Ibelsem, basing their works on the foundations of symbolism, occultism and esoterica known to the Nabis (Prophets) which is what this group of artists became known as. Later they joined up with Armand Seguin, Edouard Vuillard and Kerr-Xavier Roussel who furthered the movement. By 1892, the Nabis had exhibited several times in Paris, the most important of which was the 2nd Exhibition of Impressionists and Symbolists. In 1894 Verkade exhibited his paintings of Brittany in Copenhagen, and in the same year he decided to spend some time in a Benedictine monastery in Beuron in southwestern Germany which he had visited the year before. He became an oblate there and took painting classes based on the principles of the Beuron art school. In 1897, Verkade entered the Benedictine novitiate and was ordained a priest, taking the name Father Willibrord in 1902. Verkade worked at St. Gabriel's in Prague along with some fellow Benedictines from Beuron. Among his works in the church are the figure of Benedictine Bishop St. Adalbert. While in Prague, he was visited by his former friend Sérusier who later wrote about the first Beuron art in a Paris magazine named Occident. Verkade next looked to his painting talents as a means of fulfilling his holy orders, for he who follows God will inherit this world and the world to come, because everything was formed according to measures, numbers and weights. Although it was difficult for Verkade to reconcile the spiritual link to the Beuron arts with his free-spirited modern inclinations, Verkade did not waver in his efforts to find the absolute art.
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