Jan Sluijters - Litho in pastel shades

This lithograph comes from the estate of sculptor Theo van Reijn. He was a contemporary of Jan Sluijters and, like him, won the Prix de Rome. Among fellow artists it was quite common to exchange work or give it as a gift on occasion.
Jan Sluijters (1881-1957) became a student of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in 1901 together with Leo Gestel. Gestel and Sluijters kept in touch. His first drawings appeared in the sensational magazine Geïllustreerd Politie-Nieuws. In 1904 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome. Sluijters painted, besides landscapes and cityscapes, many portraits. He is best known for his portraits of women, nude or not, and to a lesser extent for his portraits of children (of which this is one). Sluijters painted in all styles, but always figuratively. The painting The prophet Elisha brings the son of the Shunammite woman to life, with which he won the Prix de Rome, was still in an academic style. Before his introduction to Fauvism and post-impressionism, his style was based on symbolism and art nouveau. His visits to Paris made his style more expressive and more in line with cubism and futurism. During this period, he was also inspired by Kees van Dongen and Piet Mondriaan. Together with Mondriaan and Leo Gestel, he also worked in the style of luminism. This renewed Dutch painting and earned Sluijters a reputation as a pioneer of Dutch modernism. This appreciation applies especially to his work from the period from 1906 to 1916. (Source: Wikipedia)
After the birth of his three children Jan, Rob and Liesje, Jan Sluijters started to focus on portraits of babies and children. In a time when photography was not common, they sold well.
The internal dimensions of this lithograph are 18x22 cm.