Johan van Hell

Life & Legacy

Johannes "Johan" Gerardus Diederik van Hell (February 28, 1889 – December 31, 1952) was a Dutch visual artist and musician. His work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale Onze Kunst van Heden (Our Art of Today) at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He was a dedicated socialist and a man with a highly developed social conscience. Many of his later works depict the struggles and plight of ‘the man in the street’. In 1925, he decided to produce lithographs to make art available at a reasonable price to the working class. He also gave free private art and music lessons to gifted students who could not afford the tuition.
His art oeuvre is varied, ranging from oil paintings, water colours, wood cuts and lithographs to political posters, ex-libris and magazine and book covers and illustrations. He also received regular commissions from the City of Amsterdam for monumental art. His music was at least as important to him as his art. His instrument was the clarinet, but he also played the oboe. He regularly performed with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra but refused a permanent position. In his last years his music took precedence over his art.
A major exhibition of his works in the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, The Netherlands, in 2005/06 (see 'Chronology') was accompanied by the publication of a book highlighting his life and his artistic career as well as his music career. The book also contained a catalogue of all his known oeuvre. A second edition of this book, revised, updated and much expanded, was published early in 2015 and is now available in the bookstores of various art museums in Holland. Its language is Dutch.