Lot 106: Jaap Gidding

DE MENSCH IS NIET ALLEEN OP AARDE
Design for a mural painting, pencil and watercolour on paper, depicting a forest landscape with birds and flowers in the foreground, the Rotterdam museum Boymans van Beuningen, the Laurenskerk, another churchtower and De Hef (or Koningshavenbrug) in the background, inscribed DE MENSCH IS NIET ALLEEN OP AARDE OM GELUKKIG TE ZIJN DOCH OOK OM GROOTE DINGEN VOOR DE SAMENLEVING TE VERWEZENLIJKEN
46 x 78 cm.

JAAP GIDDING

Jaap Gidding (1887-1955) was born from a Rotterdam family of painters
and decorators. He went to the Rotterdam Academie van Beeldende
Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen, where he followed
drawing-classes in the Decorative & Applied Arts department. He was
further trained in the painting and decorating firm of his father, in
the glassworkshop of E.W.F. Kerling sr. in The Hague and in München, Germany. In 1914 Jaap Gidding took over his father's company together
with his brother Jan. The workshop was located in the heart of the old city of Rotterdam and attracted many clients and talented students
alike, such as painter Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) who later applied his skills with paint and pigments as a painter in the United States.
Versatile Gidding designed glass for the Glasfabriek Leerdam, ceramics for the Porceleyne Fles in Delft and Goedewagen in Gouda, carpets for the firms of KVT and Smyrna, patterns for curtain and furniture fabric and even table damask. He is however best known for his interior designs, cinema Tuschinski (1921) in Amsterdam being the most famous one. It stands out with its exuberant colours and is one of the few interiors by his hand to have survived.
In 1935-36 Gidding cooperated with 54 other artists in the decoration of the ocean steamer Nieuw Amsterdam. Its modern and luxurious interior had to attract first class passengers to this sea-palace. For the diningroom, designed by J.F. Semey, Gidding made four lacquer panels depicting fishes, seaweeds, shells and corals in light colours against silver streaks, one of his favourite subjects. He was inspired by the book Hoorens en Schelpen and the technique was a synthetic lacquer on wood, deriving from Giddings years as advisor of the paint factory Molijn & Co. A satin shine was accomplished by alternating sanding and lacquering. Gidding frequently used the fish motive, not only in the 1930s but also in the years before. Examples include a chimneypiece for Cornelis van der Sluys (1918), now in a private collection in The Hague, and a lacquered panel (ca. 1937) in the collection of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam. The following lots (Lots 106-110) have remained in the Gidding family until the present day.

See also: Mienke Simon Thomas, Elly Adriaansz, Sandra van Dijk, Jaap Gidding. Art Deco in Nederland, Rotterdam, 2006, pp. 78-79, afb. 52, pp. 86-87, p. 101, afb. 68 and p. 105, afb. 72

Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.