Book collection Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman

Collection description Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman

Collection description:

UKLU Werkman

Collection description created by:

Anike van Noort, 2025

Brief overview

Name:

H.N., Werkman, (1882-1945), typographer, artist

Size:

ca. 1 metre

Language(s):

Dutch, English, German, French

Summary:

Material, primarily books and art, by and about the Groningen artist Hendrik Nicolaas (1882-1945), typographer, artist.

Owner:

Groningen University Library

Repository:

University Library Groningen, Special Collections Department

Provenance and acquisition

Biography

Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman was born in Leens in 1882, the son of Klaas Pieter Werkman (1847-1891) and Grietje Alingh Louwes (1850-1931). Shortly after his father’s death, Hendrik Werkman, his mother, and his brothers moved to Assen in 1893. A year later, they relocated to Groningen, where Hendrik attended HBS school. In 1900, Werkman began working at the Borgesius printing-publishing-bookstore in Sappemeer. Three years later, he joined the northern morning paper, Groninger Dagblad. In total, he worked as a journalist for about four years.

In 1908, Werkman started his own printing business in Groningen (Peperstraat 5) with varying success. During his second marriage, Werkman began drawing. Over the following years, while his print shop faced financial difficulties, Werkman’s reputation as an artist grew.

In 1920, Werkman joined the artists' circle De Ploeg, which had been established in 1918. He became known primarily for his ‘druksels’, a self-developed form of graphic visual art.

During the Second World War, Werkman worked as a printer for the clandestine publishing house De Blauwe Schuit, producing some 40 editions during the war years. Just before the end of the war, on April 10th, 1945, Hendrik Werkman was executed by the occupying forces.

Acquisition

The pieces in this collection have been collected over the years by the staff of the Special Collections of the University Library in Groningen.

Contents and collation

The collection consists of five folders with miscellaneous materials, a number of loose works, two folders of Chassidic legends, a folder with newspaper and magazine articles (donated by M.C. Werkman-van Leeuwen), a collector's box, and two folders by Fie Werkman with notes on her book: Herinneringen aan mijn vader Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman. In total, the collection amounts to approximately 1 metre of material.

The collection includes: newspaper clippings, articles from newspapers and magazines, monographs, biographies, ephemera printed by and about De Ploeg, exhibition catalogues and graphics by H.N. Werkman.