Jacoba van Heemskerck

“images of four wood-cuts - in the collection of the MoMA”

“23 images of her art-works - on Wikiart”

“' Jacoba van Heemskerck - A Rediscovery; exhibition-text of the Gemeentemuseum The Hague, August - Nov. 2005”

“Jacoba van Heemskerck, in the RKD Archive, The Hague, only in Dutch language”

“The [glass window]-designs lay ready for months [1922-23] but as the building did not proceed as quickly as it was expected, the glass-cutting was put off again and again. During the last spring it often made her anxious, that the work did not advance, as if she had the feeling that she would never see it finished. And so it was. When at last she had to lie down, never to rise again, the designs lay there, with all the indications how they had to be worked out. Thanks to these minute preparations it has been possible to finish them as a last witness of her genius.”

“for Jacoba van Heemskerck”

“Jacoba van Heemskerck paints a tree. She doesn't want its appearance, not the object, not the expression which can already be made in some dashes of color to astonish the observer. It is indeed about a tree, but she wants the miracle: standing, spreading itself, bearing its leaves, reaching into space, moving, being a part of the world. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“..Also Lady van Heemskerck van Beest has found in Cubism the direction in which she can now express herself preferably. The shape [of cubism] is already so familiar to her that she uses it without much difficulty and with her diligence and good will she moreover knows how to handle the right color soon. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“Here [in the Netherlands] there is absolutely nothing, nowhere and permanently committees to deliver the visual artists some money, since all are hungry. It is such a difficult time for Holland. I had flu, I was very sick and I am still too weak to work. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“For you it must be a great satisfaction that you have done so much for modern art. If Der Sturm had not worked like this for ten years then Germany would not have been at the forefront of the movement. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“..I am so often showing my work in Germany that I belong to the German moderns.. .I openly want to confess you that I don't value the new painting in my home country very much. That is why I don't have a lot of acquaintances among the painters. Everything here is so little progressive. People's life is to easy here. It is very difficult to keep wide-awake since all are sleeping here. I feel much more at home in Germany. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“Again I only gave numbers [of her art-works, she sent for the next Sturm-exhibition]. I stick to my idea of not giving titles. ..Titles are really disgusting romantic, and now in a while people will have hundreds of Spring's, Summers, Trees [paintings], to Liebknecht, Eberts, etc.. Above everything color and line have their own specific language, which doesn't want to be captured in a title. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“I got the idea to paint people, in the way I see them. From one face I take to my own idea some very characteristic features of it and then I make of the whole a picture in colors and lines, in the way how I meet that person. The whole thing becomes not at all a portrait in the usual sense.. .I have tried to make types, but will built in more and more personal qualities and all that kind of things.. .Everything will be figured out fully abstract of course, it is just a personal feeling and no system at all. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“Every day I am thinking about the Art school [which Walden wants to start in Germany, since 1915-16].. .If our pursuit is really to make great progress in future, the Art school must produce individualities who can with our assist really continue from their inside and start creating on their own, without always studying the pictures of other artists. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“This evening the Anthroposophical Society invited me to give a lecture about modern art, on 13 March. They start to wake up here [in the Netherlands].. .Please, tell me something, what I should emphasize, what you find most important. I shall also read something from 'The Spiritual in Art' by Kandinsky.. .But we still have other views on the whole, isn't it. I don't always agree with Kandinsky, and often more with your views. So please write a little much.. .You know, for me it is always easier to paint my principles. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“All men forget that colors have to radiate to give the big [spiritual] expression. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“Once again I talked with some painters, but the modern artists [in The Netherlands ] write more than they paint. If you write about art in such a way and you want to paint always with a fixed plan, then you will lose completely the deep, glorious and spontaneous art. You always have to create the new from the very deep, inside. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“As an artist you can not stand for long in The Netherlands. You must see a lot and talk a lot about everything.. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“I was in Rotterdam, but the exhibition there was horrible. Le Fauconnier has nothing to tell anymore. He has a dirty color now and has become a real academic. Mondrian is completely frozen, no poetry at all anymore. It's terrible that these people can not reach further with great ideals. To my taste {{w|nl:Peter Alma|Alma}} paints far too much naturalistic. A big difference, these three, compared to [[w:Franz Marc|[Franz] Marc]], Kandinsky, Filla etc.. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“It is a terrible, but also tremendous time. Personally I find it moreover so important for my art to live now.. .These times force you to think over a lot and work very hard, in Nature now a strong creative force is working. (translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”