Portrait of a man with a pipe painted in 1951 by Dutch female artist Elly Tamminga van Eysinga (1896-1983) when she was travelling in Southern-France in the afterwar period. I acquired this painting with some other portraits, directly from a French family living at the French Riviera. To me Tamminga’s style is an early form of popart.
Elly Tamminga attended the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam from 1915 – 1919, where she became acquainted with the artist Lou Loeber, with whom she would always remain friends. Tamminga and Loeber had a socialist conception of art and initially found their inspiration in Cubism. In 1927 Tamminga became a member of the Socialist Artists Circle (SKK) and became acquainted with other members such as Peter Alma, Fré Cohen and Henriëtte Roland Holst.
Tamminga developed a modern and original way of painting. She mainly painted portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Bussum was her hometown where she led a secluded life.
She did not exhibit much and always remained somewhat in the shadow of her friend Lou Loeber. Her work is represented in, among others, the Centraal Museum Utrecht as well as the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
