1856 – 1932
Evert Pieters was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands December 11, 1856 and died in Laren February 17, 1932. Pieters is considered a genre, marine and landscape painter from the Dutch Contemporary School. In addition to being a very skilled artist in oils, he was also an accomplished draughtsman and engraver.
Pieters’ parents were not wealthy and after he had finished his primary school education he had to find work. At the age of 19 he went to Antwerp in the hope that as an apprentice designer he may have a better standard of living. Antwerp, with the Academy under Verlat, was an important centre, the cradle of South Dutch art. The young Evert Pieters worked like a slave on Sundays and in his spare time painting many pictures and engravings but most of these pieces are very rare and he only really gave them to close friends.
Pieters began his formal art studies with painter Theodor Verstraete at the Academy of Amsterdam. This was only after Verstrate’s wife had drawn her husband’s attention to the young artist’s work which had been hanging on a wall. Verstraete, who was heavily influenced French Barbizon painters Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875) and Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875), would pass that influence on to Pieters. He would continue his studies with Charles Verlat (1824-1890) at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Art. Verlat was more of an academic historical, portrait and genre painter than Verstraete therefore adding additional disciplines to his education. Pieters would combine the influences and teachings of Verstraete and Verlat to develop a very unique original style of painting. In 1883 he received his first success in Belgium with the painting “The rest of the Lumberjacks’, which he had submitted to the Dutch branch of the World in Antwerp. It was a skilful and seriously reflective painting, but still fairly academic in its treatment. This however gave him much credence from which he was able to keep himself financially secure with the sale of mostly small works. It also gave him confidence and a sense of independence
In 1894 at the second World Fair in Antwerp he received, with a painting entitled ‘Wheatfield in Flanders’ a second class medal. For the same painting in 1896 at the Salon des Champs Elysees in Paris he received the gold medal. But it in 1898, when it was in Barcelona, not only did it receive a gold medal but it also was purchased by the museum there.
In 1895 Evert Pieters returned to Holland. He thought his success would continue but it was initially very disappointing. Membership of the Hague’s ‘Pulchri Studio’ initially was refused. He began painting interiors, which had been so successful in America that he hadn’t been able to keep up with demand! His success grew and, hence, his financial wealth. He married to Marie van de Bossche, and then went with her to Paris and Barbizon.
In 1886, Pieters left Antwerp and travelled to Blaricum, followed by a trip to Paris in 1896. At the onset of World War I, Pieters left Paris for London and Scotland. He eventually settled in Laren in 1917
Pieters exhibited in many cities throughout Europe, including Paris with the Salon des Artistes Francais, and in Scotland at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1913. Between the years 1895 and 1905, he showed a number of canvases in Amsterdam. At the 1896 Exposition Universelle, Pieters was awarded a third place medal, a gold medal at the Salon de Champs Elysées and a silver medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. In 1910, Pieters was invited to exhibit in Milwaukee’s “The Greatest Dutch Painters.” The exhibition was an enormous success.
The honors, his successes and popularity would continue in the United States, England and the Europe. Pieter’s was honored with his appointments as member of the Pulchri Studio at The Hague, the Academy of Antwerp, and of Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam.
Pieters died February 17, 1932.
Evert Pieters is represented in museums in Bergen op Zoom, Dordrecht, Anvers, Barcelona, The Hague, Haarlem, Hilversum, Laren and Toledo. His paintings have sold in New York, London, Brussels, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Amsterdam and Montreal.
Many of his paintings can be of traditional dark interiors where the mother is cradling a baby.
His works reach figures of up to €78000 plus premium ($97500) in auction before restoration, framing etc.
