Willem Witjens (1884-1962) - Steengroeve te Bagneux, 1935

This 1935 painting by Willem Witjens (1884–1962), painted in Bagneux, shows an extensive stone quarry in which workers are at work on different levels. The deep, terraced quarry dominates almost the entire picture plane. Small human figures, a wheelbarrow, and tools are spread across the terraces, emphasizing the scale of the excavated landscape. On the horizon a green, wooded zone contrasts with the light masses of stone in the quarry.

Witjens builds the terrain up from short, clearly visible brushstrokes in cream, pale yellow, ochre, and gray, set against blue-green and dark green areas in the distance. The diagonals of the quarry walls and paths lead the eye from the foreground into the scene. The figures are indicated with small accents in red, blue, and dark brown, among other colors.

Signed and dated in the lower left corner “Willem Witjens / Bagneux 1935.” Executed in oil on canvas, marouflé on panel. Dimensions of the work roughly 41 × 51 cm; dimensions including the frame roughly 60 × 70 × 5 cm. On the back are old labels, including one indicating the work as “Bagneux 1935. steengroeve” and as marouflé.

Artist’s Biography
Jan Willem Hendrik (Willem) Witjens (1884–1962) was a Dutch painter, watercolorist, draftsman, graphic artist, and glass painter. He studied at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague and was initially trained as a glassmaker with Eduard Kerling; Herman Johannes van der Weele also played a role in his artistic formation. Witjens received royal support for painting during the years 1915–1917. His oeuvre includes landscapes, urban and harbor scenes, river views, and winter scenes. His travels took him to France, Italy, Spain, Germany, England, and North America; the locally dated view of the stone quarry at Bagneux offered here documents his stay in France. Witjens was associated with Pulchri Studio, Arti et Amicitiae, and Sint Lucas. His work is in Dutch public collections, including the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.