This text was taken from the AD – Text: Wychard Maassen | Photo © Saskia Berdenis van Berlekom

Nazaat wants to dedicate exhibition to Amersfoort man Martin Brink (1915-1975): ‘He drew on the wall if necessary’

Alex Brink collected hundreds of drawings by his great uncle Martin Brink, a gifted portraitist who created a furor with a drawing school in postwar Amersfoort. An exhibition should save him from oblivion. ”He was a man with a big heart.”

Alex Brink still sees his great uncle in this way: sturdy build and ditto appearance. And always adorned with a hat, worn on the back of his head. As a salute, he slapped the back of the headgear so that it stood up straight again. ”He was a man with a big heart, who was open to everyone, even if you had problems.”

He speaks fondly of Martin Brink, who died of a heart attack in 1975, just before his 60th birthday. Alex’s grandfather’s brother visited almost daily at the Camp, where the family had a garage business and where Alex grew up. “He was always drawing. If he was talking to someone, he would make a caricature in the meantime. If necessary, he used the wall as a background.”

Oblivion

Martin Brink founded a drawing school after the war in the old police station on the corner of Utrechtsestraat and Plantsoen-West, which was demolished in 1958. Later well-known Amersfoort painters such as Toon Tieland and Joop Traarbach were taught by the drawing teacher, who, like them, was a member of artists’ association De Ploegh. Many former students remember him as a socially minded person, who stroked his heart when there was once no money for the membership fee.

Gradually, Brink fell into oblivion. The last exhibition devoted to him was in Birkhoven nursing home in 1995. Alex (54) would love to show his work again and is looking for a suitable exhibition space. One possibility is the monumental Dieventoren, home of the Guild of Noble Flumiers, a private cultural society to which Brink belonged.

Barman

Over the years, Alex collected several hundred drawings by his prolific relative, some of which grace the walls of his flat in Vathorst. Much of the collection came from the basement of Brink’s son, Martin junior. One of the first and finest works Alex took possession of was a large caricature of an Austrian bartender. That one came from widow Cor Bruijn; an equally memorable personality as her husband. The midwife delivered 9,000 babies and also taught modeling at the drawing school.

Brink, not a fan of abstract fiddling, placed great emphasis on technique and precise rendering. In addition to pencil, he worked with chalk, charcoal and watercolor. Although he was not innovative in terms of style, Brink did offer room for humor in his caricatures and so-called “creeps” (a dozen of which appeared in book form in 1967). Rarer are the symbolist drawings, for example with death as a theme.

Piem

Alex had his entire collection photographed and turned it into a book with an edition of one copy. Title: Piem, Brink’s nickname, who must have made thousands of drawings. Some disappeared from view after being sold at auctions or through Marketplace. During camping vacations with cousins on Texel, he also went to the market with drawings. ”Then we had some money, so we could stay a few days longer,” cousin Dick Brink told the AD in 2007.

Brink recorded many a family member, but no portrait of Alex has survived. He finds that a bit of a pity, but it does not diminish his appreciation for Brink’s oeuvre. His drawings are very precise and technically clever, also in terms of perspective. If I have a bad day and I look at his drawings, I immediately feel at ease again.