Three albums by Theo Molkenboer

Theo Molkenboer

Theo Molkenboer (1871-1920) grew up in an environment where creativity was almost a given. His father, Willem B.G. Molkenboer, was initially a sculptor and later became director of the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijzers, which he had founded, and was a great advocate for art education. His mother, Marie, was a sister of the well-known artist Antoon Derkinderen, and both Theo’s brother Antoon and his sister Phemia also found their way into the world of the visual arts.

Purchase of three Albums

In 2008, the descendants of Theo Molkenboer’s brother, Antoon Molkenboer, donated a valuable archive documenting this family of artists. Recently, the RKD was able to acquire three albums by Theo Molkenboer from Lodi Leeuwenberg, a descendant of Theo Molkenboer, thanks to financial support from the Cornelis Hofstede de Groot Foundation. Friends of the RKD. These exceptional albums documenting the oeuvre and work of Theo Molkenboer were largely compiled during his lifetime and likely supplemented shortly after his relatively early death in 1920 (he was only 49).

One album meticulously documents Theo Molkenboer’s activities and reveals the artist’s wide-ranging interests. He received his education at his father’s Rijksnormaalschool and subsequently at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He then worked for a time as an architectural draftsman at the renowned architectural firm of Pierre Cuypers. As a result, Molkenboer developed into a versatile artist. He designed architecture, decorative arts, book bindings, advertisements, and posters, created murals and sculptures, taught drawing; and was also a painter. He painted portraits in particular.

Female nudes

The album contains many contemporary photographs of his fine art and decorative arts. Notable in this album are the photographs of the polychromed sculptures of female nudes. In his day, these somewhat overly voluptuous and realistic nude sculptures caused a scandal. One of the sculptures, The Eternal Eve, was rejected for an exhibition at the artists’ association Arti et Amicitiae. According to a journalist from the Nieuws van den Dag (October 14, 1912), the admissions committee stated that it was not a matter of “morality,” but rather that, in the committee’s view, the sculpture was a cast of a body and therefore not a work of art. Molkenboer, however, was able to prove that it was indeed a clay model.

The second album also contains many photos and clippings featuring his furniture, carved or batik-patterned mirror frames, pottery, and more. Between 1901 and 1904, Molkenboer served as artistic director of the Utrecht pottery factory “Holland.” Several designs for this company are also featured in the album.

Portrait of the American President

The third special album focuses on the portraits he painted between 1909 and 1912 in cities including New York, Boston, and Washington. Earlier, in 1905 and 1906, Theo Molkenboer had spent some time in America. A plan to actually go there to paint must have originated then. He documented his work and pasted the photographs of the portraits he had created into this album, adding annotations. He titled the album Portraits of Americans painted in America by Theodore Molkenboer from Amsterdam, Holland. This title suggests that it served as a calling card for potential American clients.

It worked, because not only did he paint portraits of prominent families during his stay, he also had the opportunity to paint a portrait of William Howard Taft, the U.S. president at the time. For this, he had set up his easel in “the blue room” of the White House. “Go right ahead, Mr. M.,” Taft is said to have told Molkenboer when he arrived to pose, an hour late.

That painting the president was not quite so simple was evident from the account of that event that Molkenboer wrote in 1912 for the magazine Het Leven. Molkenboer recounted that Taft was in “constant motion,” lively discussing politics with others, and that various cabinet members walked in, “one of whom stood behind me to see how things were going.”

In the end, Taft posed for several hours each day over the course of three days for the portrait. Molkenboer pasted two photographs of the finished work into the album. This likely led to further commissions. For example, he also painted the portrait of the eldest daughter of former President Theodore Roosevelt, the writer Alice Roosevelt-Longworth.

Addition to the archive

The albums offer a unique glimpse into the life and work of Theo Molkenboer and are therefore interesting and art-historically valuable documents. They also serve as a fine addition to the archive of the Molkenboer family of artists already held by the RKD.
 

How can I consult an archive?

• Look up the archive in RKDcollections
• Click on the inventory list and choose the inventory numbers you want to view
• Send an email to archieven@rkd.nl requesting the inventory numbers at least two working days before your visit to the RKD