Dutch artist captures unique beauty of harbors<\/p>\n
By Jane Freebury<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As a boy, Dutch maritime artist Peter J.
\nSterkenburg enjoyed watching ships pass through the old port of
\nHarlingen where he lived in northern Holland. His enjoyment
\nmanifested itself in a talent for drawing ships. This
\npreoccupation has become a life's work and brought about
\nexhibitions such as Sterkenburg's latest to Asia-Pacific,
\nHarbours of Asia and Australia, Now and in the Past. It is open
\nto the public at Erasmus Huis in Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, Kuningan,
\nSouth Jakarta until July 2.<\/p>\n
Shipping of every class is represented on Sterkenburg's
\ncanvasses, some in port and some at sea. There are views of
\ntea clippers, sampans, junks, windjammers, sloops, hovercraft,
\nyachts, tugs, container ships and fishing boats in this maritime
\nequivalent to train spotting. From tall ships of easy grace to
\nchugging fishing vessels that hug shorelines, Sterkenburg paints
\nthem all.<\/p>\n
Sterkenburg's exhibition is an eclectic collection, with, say,
\na fishing boat from Aberdeen, a hydrofoil from Macao Ferry
\nServices and a Chinese junk captured together within a single
\nframe.<\/p>\n
Sometimes Sterkenburg offers a simple celebratory statement
\nsuch as the \"tea race\" with clipper \"Cutty Sark\" in the lead on
\nits way with a cargo of fresh new tea leaves, on their way to the
\ntea cups of Europe via the markets of Canton, China. An image of
\nstately tea clippers that could hail from colonial days.<\/p>\n
Other times, Sterkenburg offers a different world view. In
\nPenang Bridge, 1995 there is a squat-hulled and rusty coastal
\nvessel the \"Hock Huat\" in the foreground, reflecting a rusty
\nstain on the waters below to emphasize the point. Typical local
\nfishing boats are mid-ground, while the delicate lines of Penang
\nBridge are only discernible deep in the background. A totally
\ndifferent statement than the proud lines of the \"Cutty Sark\".<\/p>\n
Sterkenburg's naturalistic aesthetic style is classical in its
\nattention to mimesis. These paintings are reproductions to rival
\nthe photograph, with barely a smidgen of careless impressionism
\nin sight -- except perhaps a ghostly Hong Kong city backdrop to
\nHong Kong Harbour with Kai Tak Runway, 1995.<\/p>\n
The twenty paintings exhibited range from researched
\nreconstructions such as Penang, Georgetown 1850, with an old fort
\nin the background, that recreate a harbour scene long gone, to
\nthe immediacy of paintings completed just last year, like Chinese
\nJunks, Pearl River Delta, Sunset, 1995 or Penang Bridge 1995, and
\nHong Kong Harbour with Kai Tak Runway, 1995. All these starkly
\ndescriptive titles have the ring of anatomical detail and so it
\nis with the paintings. Prudent and no nonsense captions for the
\nhonest realistic representations they describe.<\/p>\n
Pilot Boat 'Captain Cook II', North and South Head, Sydney
\n1925, is a dynamic painting that prompts an image of Sterkenburg
\naboard a Manly ferry, passing the Sydney Harbor mouth. The artist
\nprobably had to narrow his eyes just a little to imagine the old
\npilot boat Captain Cook II churning through heaving seas to meet
\nthe Captain Erikson windjammer and guide it into port. For those
\nwho know Sydney Harbour, the Macquarie Lighthouse can be
\ndiscerned, a tiny white finger with a little cluster of housing
\naround it. The painting has a sense of urgency -- the need to
\nmake a connection -- that draws the viewer. A narrative suggests
\nitself.<\/p>\n
Sky<\/p>\n
Sterkenburg known for his ships, but his treatment of sky and
\nsea is a critical element. Without the artist's ability to render
\nthe sea and sky dynamically there would be no more than the fixed
\nand painted ship upon the painted ocean.<\/p>\n
Although Sterkenburg is good with light, in the sky and on the
\nwaves of an ordinary day, he is heavy on sunsets. There are a
\nlarge number of romantically streaked skies in exhibition.<\/p>\n
In Chinese Junks, Pearl River Delta, Sunset, 1995 a setting
\nsun is about to drop out of the sky. There is sunlight on cloud
\nand water -- tinges of pink, mushroom gray and mauve -- coded
\nromantically to invoke a bygone era. Ditto Hong Kong, Sunset,
\n1860 which details American and British merchant ships amongst
\njunks and sampans set against a city of the past.<\/p>\n
According to the exhibition catalog, Sterkenburg joined the
\narmy as a young man. His talent was discovered and he was
\ncommissioned to paint both military and maritime subjects. While
\nships under sail seem to be Sterkenburg's favorite subjects, he
\nhas also painted oil-drilling platforms in the North Sea, naval
\nvessels, container ships and even fighter jets. His first
\ncollective exhibition was held in 1980 in Breukelen, Holland.<\/p>\n
Sterkenburg's first Asian exhibition was successfully staged
\nin 1992 in Hong Kong. It is easy to see why, with paintings like
\nHong Kong, 1860, Victoria Harbour brought to life with
\nphotographic veracity.<\/p>\n
A painting, even a view of actual contemporary scenes, can be
\nworth a thousand photographs. Comparing one of the artist's least
\nsuccessful exhibited paintings with one of his more successful,
\nSydney Harbour with Singapore Harbour, the contrast between them
\nmakes the point. There is a flattened-out perspective in
\nSingapore Skyline, 1995, and a single line of movement, left to
\nright, a standard two-thirds down the frame.<\/p>\n
The naturalistic Sydney Harbour, 1995 has a very different
\nquality. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are merely
\nicons in the distance, background wallpaper to the choppy seas
\nand the blustery winds in the sails moving at a fast clip in the
\nforeground. The viewer could be in the prow of a boat just about
\nto move into the picture. It is a painting with a perspective
\nthat suggests that the artist, and this viewer, is in dynamic
\nrelation to the subject. It is among the exhibits that represent
\nthis maritime painter at his best.<\/p>",
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