Stephen Ongpin Fine Art (SOFA)

Nico Jungmann (1872-1935), A Woman from Volendam. Gouache and watercolour, over a pencil underdrawing, on paper laid down on board. Titled Volendam / Holland at the top. Signed with the artist’s monogram NICO /WJ at the right centre and dated 1889 at the upper right. 552 x 241 mm. [sheet]. Nico Jungmann often worked in the Dutch town of Volendam, about twenty kilometres northeast of Amsterdam, and became particularly associated with paintings and drawings of Volendam and its inhabitants in their traditional costumes.

Drawn in 1889, this large watercolour is a relatively early work by Jungmann. The dress of the women of Volendam, characterized by a high, pointed bonnet, is among the most distinctive and recognizable of traditional Dutch costumes. Prominent in this work, beneath the name of the town, are the coat of arms of Volendam, depicting a horse stepping on a flounder, while at the upper right are the arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Writing in 1899, the British art critic P. G. Konody found praise for ‘Nico Jungman, whose delightful Volendam genre-pictures have just recently scored an enormous and well-deserved success at a Bond Street exhibition; in his work the quaint costume appears to be the main purpose of the picture; everything else is mere after-thought. His technique is exquisite, his drawing admirable, his colour very decorative; his pictures will always please and even delight…’

…And this is Alesa on her last day of work at SOFA, which was last Friday. In between then and now she has done more than perhaps anyone else to truly make the gallery what it is today, and I shall always be very grateful to her. It will be hard to imagine the place without her, since she has been such an integral part of the gallery for so long, and as she embarks on a new and exciting adventure as CEO of Mariette & Co. Ltd., I know that all of us at SOFA - Laura, Antonia, Emma and I - will miss her terribly but wish her all the very best in the future. Thanks for everything Alesa! Peace out!

Alesa on her first day of work at SOFA, some eight years ago…

Our book sale at the gallery starts tomorrow and ends on Friday. As well as exhibition catalogues, monographs, books on drawings and old auction catalogues are copies of (almost) all of SOFA’s own catalogues, going back to 2006.