Willy Sluiter

Willy Sluiter was a painter, draftsman, and graphic artist. He studied at the Art Academy in Rotterdam from 1891-94 and then at the Art Academy in Den Haag. He was mainly influenced by impressionism and especially by the works of Toulouse-Lautrec. Sluiter found his subjects on the beach and in the life of fishermen, but he was also a successful portrait painter. He also produced lithographs, caricatures, and advertising posters. He participated in four consecutive Olympic Games in the Art Competitions in the category paintings (1924-36). In 1928 he was also a member of the jury in this section.

Easily identified is Sluiter’s drawing De bokswedstrijd van Joe Beckett tegen Tommy Burns, Londen 1920 in charcoal and pastel on paper on cardboard (74.3 x 99.0 cm), dated 1920. The fight against Joe Beckett (1892–1965) on 16 July 1920, in London, was former world champion’s Tommy Burns (1881-1955) last professional fight, which he lost by knockout in the 7th round. An example of Sluiter’s numerous drawings of the Swiss winter sports resorts of Davos and St. Moritz is the graphic of a bobsled launch published in the magazine Jugend in 1903. The attribution of the painting showing a soccer scene in the possession of the Dutch Football Association KNVB from the 1920s is uncertain, as well.

Most of the drawings exhibited in 1928, however, could be identified with a high degree of certainty: the caricature of tennis player Bill Tilden, who played in Nordwijk, among other places, was reproduced in “Sport in Beeld” in 1928 as one of the most highly regarded at the art exhibition. The drawing of a tennis player (The Tennis Player, ink, chalk and watercolor, 27 x 21 cm) shows the Japanese Davis Cup finalist Zenzo Shimizu (1891–1977), who often played with a hat. The soccer cartoon Voetballers co(a)lisie is shown in the catalog and thus clearly identifiable. The tennis caricature Mixed double bij tennissen is probably identical with the submitted Tennis Cartoon.

In 1932, Sluiter shifted again more to paintings like Sky-sprong in Davos, which was also reproduced in the report on the art exhibition in “Sport in Beeld”. Candidates for Yachting are Zeilen op de Hollandsche plassen (Sailing on the Dutch lakes) and Zeilen op de Olympische Spelen. The latter was created in 1928 as a watercolor in the format 31 x 22 cm (as an illustration). Of Cresta Run, St. Moritz only a 1910 drawing is preserved (colored pencil and pencil, 9 x 12 cm).

Horse Jumping Competition, submitted in 1936, could refer to De klassieke hurdle-sprong or Springruiter op de Olympische Spelen 1928 (illustration, watercolor on paper, 31 x 22 cm). The deviating, almost cubistic style of the drawing Cricket is striking.