In the museum Jan Cunen in the place Oss, The Netherlands, there is a exhibition of the artist Willem Witse. He’s a versatile artist. He paints, photographs, etches and writes; disciplines that are closely connected within his oeuvre. His paintings are realistic, with a remarkably smooth touch; his etchings are sharp and lived-in. Compared to his friends Israels and Breitner, he distinguishes himself with special points of view and above all: a moody, sometimes even mysterious atmosphere.
Willem Witse is born on 13th of August 1860 in Amsterdam and he died on the age of 62 (April 13th 1923, also in Amsterdam).
Witsen in Oss
Why now and why in Museum Jan Cunen? Since the 1950s, Oss has been actively collecting nineteenth-century art. This led to a particularly rich sub-collection, which put the museum on the map and also played a role in the new, acclaimed collection display Villa Curiossa. After retrospectives on Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (1999), Willem Roelofs (2007) and the group exhibition Haagse School x Haagse Nieuwe (2020), among others, it is high time for a new, important “nineteenth-century artist. And where better to do this than in the museum villa, dating from 1888: the perfect setting for this late-nineteenth-century life story.
Poster, flyer and photo with Witsen
On the poster and the flyer of the exhibition you can see the artist on clogs, wooden shoes, which is nice to see. I’ve also been to the exhibition and there is also a photograph of him.
More information about Willem Witsen and the exhibition on the website of museum Jan Cunen.
