Nienke Bakker collection

Collection

Identifier: ubl171

Scope and Contents

The prints in the collection Nienke Bakker are of a great diversity and testify to the variety of Dutch graphic art in the period she collected them. There seems to be a slight preference for figurative and realistic works but abstract art is represented as well. Some of the artists present are Ria Exel, Pieter Holstein, Fon Klement, Harry van Kruiningen, Jan Montijn, Jeanne Bieruma Oosting, Ru van Rossum, Akke Sins and Ans Wortel.

Dates

Creation: 1956-1985

Conditions Governing Use

Regulations that apply during the use of these materials can be found on the website of Leiden University Library.

Biographical / Historical

Nienke Bakker was born in 1916 and studied at the University of Ghent in Belgium. She got her PhD in 1948 after she had started working in Leiden at the Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (INL, Institute of Dutch Lexicology), where she was employed on the long-term project of completing the multi-volume Woordenboek van de Nederlandsche Taal (Dictionary of the Dutch language). Her name as editor is connected with the three-part volume 17 (1960-1984). She continued working at the Institute until her retirement in 1977, when she moved to the province of Zeeland. In the last decade of her life she returned to Leiden, where she rented an apartment in neighbouring Oegstgeest.

Extent

100 works (circa) by Dutch graphic artists, including a few issues of Pen en Burijn and other portfolios.

Language of Materials

Undetermined

Additional Description

Abstract in Dutch

Collectie van Nederlandse grafiek uit de periode 1956-1985, verzameld door Nienke Bakker

Abstract in English

Collection of Dutch graphic art from the years 1956 to 1985, collected by Nienke Bakker

Physical Location

Leiden University Library, Special Collections

Other Finding Aids

There exists no separate inventory of the Collection Nienke Bakker. A handlist, made up in the 1990s, is kept in the Archives of the Print Room, available upon request. All prints are described in Digital Collections.

Custodial History

Since the late 1950s Nienke Bakker had been collecting graphic art by Dutch artists. Her first purchase was a linocut by Jan Batterman (1956), her last an etching by Pauline Braat (1985). She collected contemporary art only. Some were bought from art dealers or the artists themselves but many were obtained through subscription services, for example from print publishers as Arta and In ‘t Huis met de Berk. The prints of Ans Wortel were especially dear to her.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The prints were given on loan to the university in 1985 as a promised gift and bequeathed after the collector’s death in 2011.

Accruals

No additions are to be expected.

Related Materials

The University Library possesses a large amount of modern and contemporary graphic art. Other important provenance collections are those of Piet Cleveringa and of Annie en Guus Huisman-van Bergen.