Jan Sluijters

Dutch painter and draughtsman Jan Sluijters started artistic training in ’s Hertogenbosch (1893–94), where his father was a wood-engraver. In 1894 his family moved to Amsterdam, where Jan Sluijters spent the rest of his life. After taking his art teacher’s certificate he moved to the Rijksakademie. In 1904 he won the Prix de Rome. Visiting Paris in 1906, Sluijters became fascinated by modern art.

Sluijters’ style evolved from Symbolism to Art Nouveau before he was influenced by the work of Neo-Impressionists, Fauvists and such painters as Toulouse-Lautrec and Kees van Dongen, which resulted in sensational and dynamically modern work and made him a pioneer of modernism in the Netherlands. Sluijter assimilated influences including Cubism and Futurism into a divisionist style, characterized by an expressive use of bright dots, lines and blocks of color. He then returned to more realistic depictions.

Jan Sluijters painted landscapes, but mainly women’s portraits – often as nudes – which were not uncontroversial at the time, especially since his models included women of color. He also, however, created portraits of children and, for economic reasons, designed advertising posters. In 1929 he was a member of the jury for the first “Miss Holland” beauty competition. His daughter Lies (1924–2010) was one of the best Dutch sprinters during World War II. Together with Fanny Blankers-Koen, she was a member of the relay team that set a 4x200 m world record in 1944.

Jan Sluijters’ painting Negerbokser can be found in the catalog of the Amsterdam art competitions and can thus clearly be identified, although he painted a whole series with similar motifs in a short period. The oil painting on canvas was created as early as 1914 (127 x 95 cm). The title was later changed to Zwarte man met gele lendedoek (Black man with yellow loincloth). A more recent reproduction shows in detail differences from the version in the catalog.