AMSTERDAM.- Christie’s spring season of Post-War and Contemporary Art in Amsterdam will take place on 30 April and 1 May and will be highlighted by 54 works from the collection of Jan and Tineke Hoekstra. From the late 1960s the Dutch couple put together a collection of the finest works of Dutch constructivist and abstract geometric art. Alongside this, artworks by fellow artists from abroad working within the constructivist tradition, such as François Morellet and English artists from the Systems Group, including Jeffrey Steele and Malcolm Hughes were also acquired. Leading the collection is François Morellet’s 2 Trames 0º, 90º (intervalles 14 cm et 17 cm) (1972, estimate €80,000 – 120,000), a large, black and white square with two grids, one superimposed over the other, creating a complex grid of four alternately sized squares found within. Further highlights from the collection include works by Ad Dekkers, herman de vries, Edgar Fernhout, Rob van Koningsbruggen, Joost Baljeu, Peter Struycken, Carel Visser and Jan Schoonhoven, many of which Jan and Tineke Hoekstra acquired directly from the artists.

In addition to this outstanding collection of constructivist-inspired art, the sales feature a vibrant and vital work by Bram van Velde, known for his intensely colored and geometric semi-representational painting style. Van Velde’s Untitled (circa 1959-1960), which shows two conjoined figures against an abstract interpretation of a landscape, is estimated at €180,000-250,000 and will lead the evening sale together with Der Himmel über Samarkand / The Sky Over Samarkand (1963, estimate €200,000-300,000), one of ZERO artist Heinz Mack’s rare blue canvases.

Well represented across the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales and underscoring Christie’s Amsterdam’s position as a key auction platform for both ZERO and German art, are important works by A.R. Penck, Günther Förg, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Imi Knoebel and Albert Oehlen. The preview exhibition of the Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions will take place at De Westergasfabriek and will be open to the public on 25–26 and 28–29 April, 10am–5pm (closed on Saturday 27 April due to Kings Day).

THE JAN AND TINEKE HOEKSTRA COLLECTION
In 1968, the doctor and esteemed collector Jan Hoekstra (1932-1992) bought his very first work with a bag of silver guilders saved up from a modest starting salary: Ad Dekkers’ iconic Van Cirkel naar Vierkant (1966, estimate: €25,000-35,000, illustrated left). That same year, Hoekstra’s purchase went on to be exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam as well as the Biennale in São Paolo. It was an auspicious start to what over the following decades would expand into a world-class collection of Dutch Constructivist art and more, accrued with both a strong aesthetic sense and a clear-guided vision. Hoekstra sensed the historical importance of his collection when he spoke about his feeling while visiting the exhibition of his collection at the Groningen Museum in 1992: ‘“Hands yet unborn will caress the shafts of these columns,” these words attributed by Yourcenar to Emperor Hadrian spoke to me especially as I walked around, looking at my own collection. Indeed, I feel as if I am a sort of administrator of things that still have a future, rather than a true collector who has something around him that he can truly consider his’. Jan Hoekstra died just two months after viewing his exhibition in Groningen in a car accident in Ethiopia. His wife Tineke passed away in 2017. With its international reach to likeminded artists, working in one of the most historically significant artistic traditions of the 20th century, the Hoekstra Collection has already lived up to Hadrian’s words and will continue to do so for generations to come.

The evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary art on 30 April will feature ten works from the Hoekstra Collection: Besides the mentioned works by François Morellet and Ad Dekkers, two further works by Ad Dekkers will be offered as well as Herfst (1972, €70,000-90,000), which Jan Hoekstra bought when it was still on the easel of Edgar Fernhout. Also acquired by the Hoekstras directly from the artists were Peter Struycken’s abstract painting Structuur II (1969, estimate €12,00016,000, illustrated right), herman de vries’ relief V70-27B (1970, estimate €30,000-50,000), two sculptures by Joost Baljeu’s Synth. Constr. WXI_4c (1960-1969, estimate €30,000-50,000) and F7-1973/74 nr. 4 c.d. (1973-74, estimate €25,000-35,000) and the four-panel painting Untitled (1977, estimate €15,000-20,000) by Rob van Koningsbruggen.

The day sale offering of 44 works from the Hoekstra Collection include further works by the mentioned artists alongside works by Carel Visser, Kenneth Martin, Malcolm Hughes, Jeffrey Steele, Jürgen Partenheimer, Gerrit Rietveld and Jan Schoonhoven, just to name a few.

GERMAN ART
German art is represented across the sales with works by A.R. Penck, Günther Förg, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Imi Knoebel and Albert Oehlen. Imi Knoebel’s Zion (1998-1999, estimate: €140,000 – 180,000) is a monumental symphony of chromatic form. It not only presents a complex choreography of tones, but also extends colour’s materiality into the third dimension, further nuanced by an elaborate play of light and shadow that react to the rising and waning sun. Also included in the evening sale is a selection of abstract works on paper by Albert Oehlen. The four drawings Untitled (from the Sculpture series) (1988, estimate: €80,000-120,000) are each an homage to a different artist whose identity remains a secret. All four drawings are characterised by their minimal use of colour and delicate yet emotive lines. Executed in 1988, Untitled (from the Sculpture series) signals a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, as until 1987, Oehlen created entirely figurative paintings that incorporated mirrored fragments into landscapes and interior scenes

ZERO ART
Heinz Mack’s rare blue canvas Der Himmel über Samarkand / The Sky Over Samarkand (1963, estimate €200,000-300,000) and Jan Schoonhoven’s Hommage à Fontana (1970, estimate €100,000 – 150,000) are highlights from the ZERO group in the sales. The latter’s structure bears a strong resemblance to Schoonhoven’s horizontal line drawings, such as R71-14, executed in 1971, while its size and three dimensionality, combined with a white artist’s frame, encourage an association with his larger reliefs.