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Pencil drawing of Sees Flag. Title: "The Hague twins". (Series of fourteen drawings of the sky above the Castalia building in The Hague). Year: 2014.
Dimensions incl. frame: H54 x W69cm. Dimensions: H28 x W41cm. The work is signed by the artist at the bottom left. The authenticity of the work offered is fully guaranteed. A certificate of authenticity can be emailed upon request.
In the last years of Sees Vlag's life, operating the printing press became too difficult. That's why he turned to drawing. Cloudy skies in particular. With a small part of the city visible at the bottom, usually of The Hague. While the cloudy skies in the linocuts of Sees Vlag served as an illustration, it is the other way around in his drawings. Once you know these drawings and look at the sky, you will sometimes catch yourself thinking: 'Indeed, I know that sky from Sees Vlag!' Pulchri exhibited a large overview of these drawings in 2015.
Frames: Damage to frames is not described. If a work is framed behind glass and the glass is broken, this will be stated. Reflection may be visible in photos of framed works.
The work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The collection period, if paid in advance, is very long, in other words the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the above-mentioned cities or the beach. The work can also be shipped with a small reliable art courier. Costs in the Netherlands: 32.50 euros. Costs Belgium: 57.50 euros.
Artist: Sees Vlag (1934-2018) was born in Gouda, the youngest son in a family of eight children. Sees Vlag, then called Kees Vlag, enjoyed a carefree childhood in Gouda. When Kees is ten years old, the family moves to The Hague. In high school he spends his time drawing. In 1952 he enrolled as 'Sees Vlag' in the evening course at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. Characteristic of that period are three self-portraits in oil paint. But there is also another self-portrait: one of the first linocuts by Sees Vlag. This linocut is well known to all collectors. It is the work of which he made a print in black and white and always stuck it as a business card on the back of every work sold.
In 1960, Sees Vlag continued working with linocuts. When it comes to colours, Mara Kuyk (his wife) appears to be an authority with her fashion training. According to Sees, no new color was ever added to his prints without her express permission.
A final change took place in 1967. 'Apartment building' is the linocut that concludes the series of still lifes. "This print is my first foray into architecture, a subject that interested me and has never let go," says Sees Vlag. Architectural constructions intrigue him and, as his teacher Rein Draijer told him, they are thoroughly studied (with the help of architects and engineers) before he immortalizes them in a print. Sees Vlag soon started making the first cityscapes of The Hague. Sees Vlag about the technique of the linoleum cut: 'In principle I cut from large to small. You can cut away, but you can't crop. The color you printed is the color you have to cut away. Then you will make the next color. The problem is that the color you are mixing is not the color you get on the print. The color on the print is influenced by the color you have already printed. The printing inks I work with are semi-opaque. In principle you can only press from light to dark. I use the first print to determine whether each new color is correct. So you work from large to small and from light to dark. In the long run you will have nothing left. Someone recently came here wanting a copy of a sold out print. Couldn't I just add another one? Well, that's really not possible. There is nothing left of the linoleum with which the print was made. Sorry.
Technique: drawing.