Portrait of Nina Meyer-Fierz

Jan Toorop was a leading artist in the Netherlands in the turn of the last century. He was born in Java, in modern-day Indonesia, the son of a Dutch-Indonesian father and an English-Chinese mother. At 14, he moved to the Netherlands, where he trained as an artist. He was active as a draftsman, painter, printmaker, and designer of posters, book illustrations, and decorative arts. This is one of a pair of portraits (see also 2018.35.2) that Toorop drew in Switzerland in 1909. They depict husband and wife Fritz and Nina Meyer-Fierz of Zurich, who were major collectors of work by modern artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin—and Toorop. Toorop depicted the 49-year-old Nina as a forceful figure, with an intense gaze. Fritz’s eyes, on the other hand, are averted from the viewer, giving him a more retiring demeanor.