ALBERT B HEMELMAN
Dutch (1883-1951)
Albert B Hemelman was born on January 7, 1883 near Amsterdam, Holland. He was a painter and etcher of landscapes and most prominently, of marines and cityscapes.
He was the third child of Antoine Hemelman and Berendina Willink. His father was a blacksmith and intended that he and his two older brothers would become blacksmiths as well. However, Albert was too artistic and chose the profession of a painter.
Beginning in 1900, Hemelman was allowed to study art at the Rijksschool in Amsterdam. In his earlier years, his work consisted primarily of etchings. Eventually from 1908 to 1909, he studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
Albert Hemelman painted large ships and large ocean storms and these paintings attracted tremendous attention with the affluent Dutch art buyers and led to many important commissions during his lifetime. Some of his major clients included the important Royal Hollandche Lloyd and the AMRO-Bank in Amsterdam.
Hemelman traveled to Scotland and Iceland and painted many scenes from those countries as well as throughout Holland.
He exhibited at all of the important Dutch salons and venues and at one such exhibition, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland purchased one of his paintings.
In addition to exhibiting and taking on important commissions, he was also a master teacher at the Wierink School in Amsterdam which he created around 1934. His studio was above this institute.
Another of his well known clients was the popular monthly Holland magazine, The Schelpenvisser, where his paintings made the cover more than once as well as their calendar.
Albert B Hemelman died in Amsterdam on January 1, 1951.
In January 1983, an exhibition of Hemelman’s work was held in Zuid Limburg, Holland honoring what would have been his 100th birthday.
