Bart van der Leck

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

Leck, Bart van der (b Utrecht, 26 Nov. 1876; d Blaricum, 13 Nov. 1958). Dutch painter and designer. After working for eight years in stained-glass studios, he studied painting in Amsterdam, 1900–4. His early work was influenced by Art Nouveau and Impressionism, but from about 1910 he developed a more personal style characterized by simplified and stylized forms; his work remained representational, but he eliminated perspective and reduced his figures (which included labourers, soldiers, and women going to market) to sharply delineated geometrical forms in primary colours. In 1916 he met Mondrian and in 1917 was one of the founders of De Stijl. At this time his work was purely abstract, featuring geometrically disposed bars and rectangles in a style close to those of Mondrian and van Doesburg. However, he found the dogmatism of the movement uncongenial and left it in 1918, reverting to geometrically simplified figural subjects. In the 1920s he became interested in textile design and during the 1930s and 1940s he extended his interests to ceramics and interior decoration, experimenting with the effects of colour on the sense of space. His work can best be seen at the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo.

Leck, Bart van der (1876–1958). Dutch painter and designer, born in Utrecht. After working for eight years in stained-glass studios, he studied painting in Amsterdam, 1900–4. His early work was influenced by Art Nouveau and Impressionism, but from about 1910 he developed a more personal style characterized by simplified and stylized forms: his work remained representational, but he eliminated perspective and reduced his figures (which included labourers, soldiers, and women going to market) to sharply delineated geometrical forms in primary colours. In 1916 he met Mondrian and in 1917 was one of the founders of De Stijl. At this time his work was purely abstract, featuring geometrically disposed bars and rectangles in a style close to Mondrian and van Doesburg. However, he found the dogmatism of the movement uncongenial and left it in 1918, reverting to geometrically simplified figural subjects. In the 1920s he became interested in textile design and during the 1930s and 1940s he extended his range to ceramics and interior decoration, experimenting with the effects of colour on the sense of space. His work can best be seen at the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo.

Leck, Bart van der (1876–1958). Dutch painter and designer. After working for eight years in stained-glass studios, he studied painting in Amsterdam, 1900–4. His early work was influenced by Art Nouveau and Impressionism, but from about 1910 he developed a more personal style characterized by simplified and stylized forms: his work remained representational, but he eliminated perspective and reduced his figures (which included labourers, soldiers, and women going to market) to sharply delineated geometrical forms in primary colours. In 1916 he met Mondrian and in 1917 was one of the founders of De Stijl. At this time his work was purely abstract, featuring geometrically disposed bars and rectangles in a style close to those of Mondrian and van Doesburg. However, he found the dogmatism of the movement uncongenial and left it in 1918, reverting to geometrically simplified figural subjects. In the 1920s he became interested in textile design and during the 1930s and 1940s he extended his interests to ceramics and interior decoration, experimenting with the effects of colour on the sense of space. His work can best be seen at the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo.