Around 1940/41 Edgar Fernhout and his at the time wife Rachel Louise Fernhout-Pellekaan (Klundert 1905-1989 Clermont-Ferrand) were in a tumultuous period which eventually would lead to their divorce. The couple lived separately in these years, living with friends moving from one place to another. The vantage point of this hitherto unrecorded drawing by Edgar Fernhout must be (close to) the house of Willem (Wim) Bruynzeel (1901-1978), director of Bruynzeel's Flooring and Veneer factory and his wife Aleida (Leid) Duifje Bruynzeel-Talma (1903-1997), the couple who Fernhout visited frequently since 1940. Edgar met the couple in 1940 through a commission to portray both their twin daughters Leid and Nel.
A painting, titled Zaandam and dated 194(4) was recently on the Fine Art market and shows exactly the same narrow wooden bridges appearing in our drawing and the description of the painting perfectly corresponds with the written note by Fernhout in his diary when he painted from the house of the Bruynzeels in Zaandam, overlooking the Balkenhaven towards the Noordzeekanaal: vóór - water-eilandjes - in de verte drie boerderijen onder een wolkenlucht (in the foreground three small islands, in the far distance three farms under a cloudy sky).
The composition and atmosphere recall influences of William Degouve de Nuncques (1867-1935), who was famous for his strong horizontal compositions with trees and mystique ambiances .
[1] Mieke Rijnders, Aloys van den Berg, In het licht van Alassio: Edgar Fernhout NEO-REALIST.
Ludion, Amsterdam-Gent. Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhme, 2002. p. 147
[2] Mieke Rijnders, Ype Koopmans, Aloys van den Berk, De sprong is nu gemaakt, Edgar Fernhout Modernist.
Thieme Art, Deventer. Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem. 2009. p.17
[3] D.A. Klomp, In en om de Bergensche School.
A.J.G. Strengholt, Amsterdam, 1943. p.241-243
