Wobbe Alkema

Wobbe Alkema (1900, Borger, Drenthe – 1984, Kampen) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, aquarellist, woodcutter and lino cutter, and he also was active as restorer of medieval churches. First he was a landscapist, painting in a naturalistic manner. In the summer of 1919, he took drawing lessons from the sculptor Willem Valk at Academie Minerva in Groningen. From 1922 onwards, he painted geometrical abstractions in a constructivist style. In 1922, he started – along with Jan van der Zee and Johan Faber - the advertising agency AVAR. In 1924 , he was a member of De Ploeg (The Plough). Around 1930 he was influenced by Wassily Kandinsky. A few years later, disillusioned by the political developments in Germany, he stopped his artistic activities till the end of World War II. Alkema lived and worked in several places, Nieuw-Buinen, Stadskanaal, Groningen, Eelde, Assen, Kampen. In 1960, he had a special exhibition at the Groninger Museum. A number of his works are in the collections of the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.