Lizzy Ansingh
Encyclopedia
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
painter. She belonged to a school of female painters called the Amsterdamse Joffers.
Lizzy Ansingh was born in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
. She was the daughter of Edzard Willem Ansingh, a pharmacist, and the painter Clara Theresia Schwartze. She was the granddaughter of Johann Georg Schwartze, also a painter, and a niece of the painter Thérèse Schwartze.
It was her aunt Thérèse Schwartze who gave Lizzy her first lessons in drawing. Lizzy lived with her aunt for 16 years. She encouraged her niece to develop her artistic career and introduced her to numerous other painters, among others French impressionists and the famous Dutch painters George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner wasa Dutch painter and photographer.-Biography:George Hendrik Breitner was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From 1876–1880 he attended the Academy in the Hague where his extraordinary talent was rewarded on various occasions...
, Piet Mondriaan and the lesser known Simon Maris.
During the years 1894–1897 Lizzy studied at the Amsterdam Royal Academy for the Visual Arts (Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten). Here she studied with the professors August Allebé, Nicolaas van der Waay and Carel Dake.
At the Academy a lasting friendship was born between a group of female painters, later called the Amsterdamse Joffers: Lizzy Ansingh, Marie van Regteren Altena, Coba Ritsema, Ans van den Berg, Jacoba Surie, Nelly Bodenheim, Betsy Westendorp-Osieck and Jo Bauer-Stumpff. The importance of the Amsterdamse Joffers lies primarily in functioning as role models for younger female painters in the Netherlands, especially during and after 1970s.
Besides portrait painting, Lizzy Ansingh gained celebrity for painting dolls, in which she was also encouraged by her aunt Thérèse Schwartze.
Lizzy also wrote two books for children, `n Vruchtenmandje (A little fruit basket), published in 1927, and Tante Tor is jarig (Aunt Tor has her birthday). This booklet, published in 1950, was illustrated by Nelly Bodenheim.
Ansingh was a member of the (still existing) Amsterdam art circles Arti et Amicitiae and Sint Lucas.
She died in Amsterdam on 14 December 1959.
Further reading
- Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (biografie van Maria Elisabeth Georgina Ansingh)
- Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
- Venema, Adriaan, De Amsterdamse Joffers. Het Wereldvenster: 1977.
- Lizzy Ansingh in Geheugen van Nederland
- Galerie Nieuw Schoten, Lizzy Ansingh
- Literature on Ansingh in the Rijksmuseum Library (Amsterdam).