Pierre Kemp and the Graafland class

Pierre Kemp and the Graafland class

For me, Jonkheer Robert Graafland (1875–1940) serves as a starting point for cultural life in the south of the country, and in Maastricht in particular. Even though his own work retained a certain charm, it is above all his pupils – who went on to become renowned and even undeniably famous in their own right– who constitute his greatest glory. At the turn of that century, there wasn’t a lot of artistic activity in old Maastricht. The Schaepkens brothers belonged to the nineteenth century, as did the French-speaking writers from Hasselt and Weustenraad. After 1900, we see Graafland working in Maastricht as an award-winning painter and as head teacher at the Stadstekeninstituut, which later became the Kunstnijverheidsschool (the present Academy of Arts Maastricht) and, indirectly, the Jan van Eyck Academy. This Graafland class was, in fact, a Sunday school for gifted younger students at the Stadstekeninstituut. The lessons were held in an upstairs room of the former Augustinian Church, known at the time as ‘Awwestiene’, an imposing building with a stately Baroque façade, which can still be admired today. The interior, however, was less appealing. On Sunday mornings, the pupils would come to draw from a model, for which either one of the youths themselves would pose, or some popular figure would be hired for a reasonable fee.

My brother Pierre was four years older than me, an age difference that should not be underestimated during one’s teenage years. Pierre had successfully completed the Institute’s evening classes and – to the best of my recollection – won first prize every year. So, naturally he went on to join Graafland’s painting class. I initially attended classes at the Patronaatstekenschool, where Fons Olterdissen – later highly regarded as a dialect writer – taught in a dated and almost amateurish way as an art teacher, despite being properly qualified. Thanks in part to advice from Pierre, I took the decision in time to transfer to the Institute where I also joined the Graafland Class. In any case, I experienced that ‘class’ for several years so I can testify that Graafland was an inspiring leader who knew how to discover the talent that lay hidden in those pupils.

Amongst Graafland’s pupils who later came to the fore were, apart from Pierre, Henri Jonas (1878–1944), who was roughly the same age as his master, Jan Gregoire, who died not long ago in Amsterdam after also making a name for himself as a writer; the craftsman Edmond Bellefroid, who drew equal attention as a painter; Joep Narinx, who died in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the war, Jos Postmes (who I have not seen since), his brother, a modest amateur, and also, obviously, yours truly. Pierre continued to take part in the class’s outdoor lessons, which were often held in the lovely countryside setting of Heugem and possibly also in Sint-Pieter or Canne. Once we both began to move more into the literary field, we must have lost touch with our mentor and the group.