Jakob Smits, In the Trenches

by Atelier Liesjes

An almost formless landscape of earth and sky. The upper part is a grey, torn sky of grey-green and ivory white, with a small, pale yellow patch in the centre where the light breaks through. Beneath it, two black-green, rounded masses rise up's op, als opgeworpen wallen van klei of als de stompen van verwoeste bomen. De voorgrond is een warreling van olijfgroene en umberbruine kluiten, met linksonder een donkere, rechtopstaande vorm die aan een in de schaduw staande gestalte doet denken, een man in de loopgraaf, wegduikend in de aarde. Nergens is een horizonlijn scherp;, sky, mud and rubble merge into one another. Here and there the paint is so thick that the clods cast their own shadows, and in the bottom right-hand corner a dark band runs like the edge of a trench. Smits does not paint the war as a report, but as matter. The paint has been applied in thick layers with a palette knife and brush and then worked over, so that the canvas itself takes on the appearance of churned-up earth. The colours remain muted and subdued: army green, soot, umber and the occasional trace of yellow. This creates a sombre, almost abstract composition that evokes a sense of oppression and devastation without depicting a single clear scene, reminiscent of Expressionism. There is not a single soldier in uniform to be seen, no weapon, no field; only the churned-up earth and the sky above it. Jakob Smits (Rotterdam 1855 – Achterbos near Mol 1928) lived in the Kempen from 1888 onwards and, during the First World War, produced work close to the Dutch border that is steeped in the experience of war. His impasto, earthy painting style and his social commitment make him one of the most idiosyncratic Flemish artists of his generation. He was one of the first in Flanders to depict rural life without sentimentality. A poignant, austere work for a collector of war and Expressionist art.