4 | the xpat journal | 2015

FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF...In the articles entitled “From the Point of View of…” we tell the story of an expatriate who is living in the Netherlands. In each edition, we interview this expatriate, each time from a different country and each time in a different position (the person who was placed here by the employer, came her on his or her own initiative, the family members, etc.) For this issue of The XPat Journal, we interviewed Albert Dolmans, a Dutch/American artist, who emigrated to the US in in 1940, but has come full circle to live in the Netherlands again.

Photos by Joan van Nispen tot Sevenaer

the xpat journal | 2015 | 5

INTERVIEW

AlbertDolmans

Adays to making art. That they can retreat into that inner world where they access their inspiration – and then use their talent to convert it into something tangible. I imagine that it must bring them a wonderful sense of fulfillment. As for me, I am

limited to the times that I know that no one is going to want anything from me for the next 24 hours, at which point I will settle into a corner with my box of pastels and some paper. And then, of course, there is the small matter of quality – for, even if I were to be uninterrupted for 60 years, I could never create what Albert Dolmans creates. How wonder-ful it would be to be able to grab my pencil and a note-book and with just a few strokes, bring to life the scene that I am witnessing. Or to capture an atmosphere not by painting everything that is there, but by emphasizing the feeling it evokes with suggestion and omissions.I suppose that is what I envy most.Albert was born near Breda in the Netherlands, but in 1940, his father, a sea captain who had passed through Bremen and Hamburg on his way to the Pacific and had seen the war material build up there, decided it was time for his family to leave the country. “He knew what was coming,” says Albert. “My father figured that Germany was already at war with Britain and France, that it had run over Poland – and he predicted that Holland was next. He booked a passage for my mother, my two sisters and myself from Genoa to New York and off we went, leaving for Genoa by train.” Was Albert sad to leave Hol-land? “Oh not at all – I was quite taken with the concept of America. Not that I knew much about the country – it could have been the moon, for all I knew,” he laughs.What does Albert remember about the trip? “It’s a long time ago, you know,” he cautions, “but I do recall that my mother promised we would visit Paris, which we

were really looking forward to. However, we arrived at night and the city was in full blackout. That was a bit of a disappointment,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.” And starting out school in Berkeley, what was that like? “The beginning was a little tough,” he tells, “coming from Europe, I wore short pants… But my mom caught on quickly and we made a trip to Penney’s to remedy that situation.”Being out in California, was Albert at all aware of the goings on of the war? “Sure. I had a big map of Europe on my wall and I followed the progress of the various armies with flags that I pinned on the map. And I would sit on our roof, drawing the planes that flew over. These, luckily, were American airplanes,” he says with dry understate-ment. “Being on the West Coast, we were more preoccupied with the Japanese than with the Germans, but we were shocked to learn about the camps after the war was over. These people had all been moved out of their homes, while they were American cit-izens.” Albert becomes philosophical, “I guess it is a hu-man trait to fear the unknown; anything that upsets our daily routine is viewed with a certain suspicion. Just look at the McCarthy-era that followed; there was a commu-nist under every bed. We get paranoid about everything and it seems to be sort of a continuum, going on from one enemy to the next. It’s unfortunate, and it happens in every corner of the world,” he remarks sadly.As he made his way through school, art became increas-ingly important to Albert. “Though it already started in Holland,” he recalls, “my sister liked to draw and very young I started to imitate that. Soon I was sketching eve-rything around me. Then in High School in Berkeley I took an art course – most kids took it as a snap course, but I was genuinely interested.” He was awarded a schol-

‘Coming from Europe, I wore short pants… But my mom caught on quickly and remedied that’

There is really no one I envy. My life is good and I am having a good time. But if there is any type of life I sometimes come close to envying, it is that of artists. I realize that I am romanticizing their lives, but I am envious of the fact that they can dedicate their days to making art.

6 | the xpat journal | 2015

INTERVIEW

arship to the Califor-nia College of Arts and Crafts, and upon grad-uating got a job doing in-house lettering at a clothing store as he went around San Francisco with his portfolio, and then working for a year in Gump’s Advertising Department . “After that, I decided I wanted to visit Holland and travel around Eu-rope – so I quit my job.” This was 1952. What was it like to be in the Netherlands again? “Well, I have to admit that I had taken the standard of living in the US for granted, so I couldn’t believe how primitive things were here. Not that I had been living in luxury, but people were poor compared to the life I knew in the US. I still remember my mother’s little white kitchen; it was quite pictur-esque. But at least, by then, they were allowed a house. My mother must have had a really tough time when they were reassigned to the Netherlands in 1946. My sisters and I had stayed behind in the US, my father was at sea most of the time, the food was rationed, as was accom-modation, and she was all alone in the single room they rented in a devastated Rotterdam – far away from her family. It must have been a lonely time for her… This didn’t dawn on us at all, at the time,” he says with regret.

After spending a month with his parents, Albert bought a motorcycle, “a car was too expensive”, and set off for France. That must have been a wonderful moment. “Oh,” he remi-nisces, “as soon as I got on that thing, I was free. I really en-joyed being on the road. In those days, there was hardly any traffic; I was almost on my own on the highways. Naturally, compared to now, the motorcycle didn’t go very fast – but then I wasn’t in that much of a hurry, either,” he smiles. He must have been quite a sight, as he motored his way into the villages of Southern Europe, with his goggles and his cloth helmet. He nods: “Especially the Italians are motor-happy and most of the kids hadn’t ever seen a new motorcycle. So in many of the villages I visited they would flock out and throng around this new attraction.” For four months, he was on the road. “It was a nice adventure. I had brought along my sketchbooks and I made it a point to draw as often as possible. I still have most of that stuff. I look at it, like you would look at old photographs. My sketches were very vig-orous in those days, very unsophisticated, of course. Like I say, when you get out of college, you think you know it all, but you don’t know anything. You’re still learning. I’m still learning now – it never stops, fortunately.”Judging by the faraway look and the twinkle in his eyes, Albert looks back on this trip with fondness: “It was a different time, a quiet time. Compared to the bustle of going to college or having a job. And it helped build my self-confidence; after that, I felt I could go anywhere, do anything. I took on a lot of different vacation jobs, as an illustrator, a cab driver, at factories… And I realized every day how fortunate I was; I would look around me and see people for whom this job was for forever, while I was just there for a while. I was aware of the fact that, for me, this was not it. It was just another step on the way towards the rest of my life. Anytime I wanted, I could take up my brushes and my paints and go anywhere in the world.”Over the subsequent years, Albert went quietly about set-ting up his business and selling paintings, spending the first ten years working for an engraving company that had an advertising department. “It was a long commute – three hours every day – but it taught me self-discipline, and a lot of skills, and I loved the job. I can honestly say that there was not a day that I didn’t enjoy going to work – that’s a privilege. Then, after about ten years, I decided that if I painted full-time, I could probably make a living off it, so I quit. Through the huge network I had in Califor-nia I was able to arrange a lot of exhibits and I have been able to live off it – albeit carefully and with no extrava-gances. To me, it was more important to keep on painting than to buy a new car,” he explains contentedly. “I never did feel the need to keep up with the Joneses. The only Jones I kept up with needed was my long-time friend, Rodney Jones. He was an aeronautical engineer, and every now and then, I would fly somewhere and meet up with him, and we would make our way across the United States, while drawing and painting.” Looking back, Al-bert is gratified as he reflects: “I am glad I made the life choices I did. I have always enjoyed my work.” He directs his quiet, clear-blue gaze at me, “Life has been super.”

As soon as I got on my motorcycle,

I was free

This year, Albert Dolmans has an exhibition in The Hague, at Kunstzaal Van Heijningen (www.kunstzaalvanheijningen.nl), from July 9 through August 2 (see page 46). He has also published two books, My Drawings, with sketches made while on his trip through Europe and later trips, and Painting Is My Life, with his life story and many of his paintings – including a photograph taken of him during that pivotal trip through Europe in 1952; on his motorcycle in an almost car-free Paris, which he finally got to visit without a blackout. The books are also available as iBooks, which can be downloaded free from the iBooks Store. Should you wish to purchase the ‘physical’ books so that you can enjoy holding them in your hands or sharing them with someone without having to open your laptop, this can be done by contacting publisher@heresholland.com.

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