Coba Ritsema
Dutch (1876-1961)
Coba Ritsema was born in Haarlam in the Netherlands in 1876. At age 15 she attended the School voor Kunstnijverheid in Haarlem where she learned the basics of drawing. In 1893 she was admitted to the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam where she studied with Nicolaas van der Waay and Carel Dake. Two years later she asked the famous society portrait painter Thérèse Schwartze to teach her, but Schwartze refused saying, “You are good enough to continue by yourself,” after visiting Ritsema’s studio twice. Ritsema also asked to study with the impressionist George Hendrik Breitner, but he also refused; he praised her art and felt there wasn’t much he could teach her.
Ritsema was a member of Amsterdamse Joffers, Drawing Society Pictura, Pulchri Studio, St. Lucas and Arti et Amicitiae. She exhibited widely in the Netherlands and won several prizes for her work.
Ritsema’s works of can be found in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem; Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden and Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
