Indo Profile: “Oom Nico”, Painter Extraordinaire, Beloved Teacher, and Favorite Uncle

By Cindy Rodermond, Winnie Piccolo (nee Gravendaal), Ingrid Gravendaal, Linda Gravendaal, and Peggy Gravendaal

Prior to the 1980s, movie posters were a one-off in that they were original, authentic drawings and paintings, even the billboard-sized ones that loomed high above city traffic. In the Netherlands, the artists behind these creations were called bioscoopschilders (cinema painters). In today’s digital age, it is almost beyond belief that these giant works of art were hand painted week after week after week. Like artisan painters centuries ago, no attribution was made; the cinema painters remained anonymous. You might think that the works themselves would be famous by now, but alas, almost nothing of this art form has been preserved.

Fortunately, at least one of these bioscoopschilders has a few descendants, here in California and in Holland, who wish to make sure that he is not consigned to oblivion. Our Oom Nico, Niek Straatman, was a lot more than a painter of film stars, as amazing as his movie acclaim was. Thankfully, a few photos of his remarkable portraits still exist. Some were even published by one of Niek’s close friends and colleagues in a graphic book called Rotterdamse Bioscoopschilders in de Jaren ’50 about cinema painters in Rotterdam in the 1950’s. This means that Niek’s family members are not the first to pay tribute to his art, but we do hope to bring him to the attention of a new generation.

Beyond the work that earned him a salary, Niek Straatman was a painter of the places and people he remembered from his childhood in the Dutch East Indies. Further, he was an avid researcher and captured on canvas, in careful detail, an entire series of authentic Indonesian huts, Chinese junks (sailing ships), and – reflecting his love of birds – beautiful roosters, pheasants and pigeons. There are also many nature paintings in the Straatman collection: Indonesian scenes of volcanoes, mountains and rivers (kali’s), Dutch scenes including the “Veluwe”, and places in California, sketched during visits to his family here. His interests were so varied and so many. 

He was born in 1929 in what was then the Dutch East Indies, the youngest of four. He lost his father when he was six years old. Life thereafter was not easy, because the family had lost its breadwinner and even in the far away colony, the Depression had its impact. When World War II broke out, he was 13 and was rounded up with huge numbers of other Indos (and all Europeans) by the Japanese invader. At first, he was allowed to stay with his mother and older sisters in one of the women’s internment camps. But as the war dragged on and he got older, he was forced to go into hiding on a dairy farm in the mountains.

Postwar, Niek, as well as his mother and sisters, were re-imprisoned as soon as they were liberated by the Japanese, this time by the independence movement brewing in the colony (the Bersiap period). One of the many trauma stories that left an indelible scar was when his closest friend Leendert van den Berg was dragged off a bus by Indonesian revolutionaries, and then killed as he watched, for being in possession of a radiolamp. Freedom was another year away. Niek’s sister, the mother of four of his nieces here in California, memorably described the poignant moment of being reunited with her emaciated, dressed-in-rags little brother when their imprisonment finally ended.

In 1947, at the age of 18, Niek came to the Netherlands with his mother and one sister, at first living in The Hague, with an aunt. The war had brought his education to a screeching halt, so like many other young camp survivors, he went back to school to try to salvage what he could. He lasted three years, the American equivalent of grades 7 – 9. He would discover later that he had dyslexia, a learning disability that had added a further complication to getting through school. A factory job came next, and then it was time to meet his military service obligation.

Because he made portraits of his service buddies, he was teasingly called Rembrandt. On the one hand, this embarrassed him; on the other, it gave him the idea to do something further with drawing and painting, eventually leading him to enroll at the Evening Academy in Rotterdam. Back from the service, one day, walking the streets of Rotterdam, he came upon a cinema painter hard at work. He watched with fascination until the work was finished. The next day, he went to the owner of the advertising studio, Leo Mineur (of Reclame Atelier Leo Mineur), and asked for a job. Part of the job application process was to complete a painting assignment. Without any training, and with only the street lesson of the previous day to guide him, he performed the assignment and was hired on the spot. Obviously, he was a natural.

In the words of his colleague, friend, and student (“His best student” Niek often stated), Diego Terroba, now a renowned artist himself, Niek was recognized by his circle as a master painter with an exquisitely smooth brushstroke. His techniques were brilliant and his use of color earned him particular acclaim. Over the years, he developed his own color theory. The combination of his use of color and his skill at creating amazing likenesses produced many powerful cinematic and other portraits. He was a passionate artist in his whole heart and soul and lived for his art.

Niek also had a passion for passing on the profession and did so successfully, with several of his students continuing on to make a name for themselves. He was a very good teacher who always came from a place of love and generosity. He made his boss Leo Mineur famous at the time through his striking and gorgeous film posters. He was very modest himself, never one to show off, but all of his peers at the ad agency would point to him as the best of his time in the Netherlands. 

Niek worked at the company for 30 years, until there was less and less demand for the enormous cinema billboards. He was also developing heart problems and psychological problems that stemmed from his wartime and Bersiap experiences. In 1983, he was allowed to retire for health reasons. He began to devote all his time to his own art. He was prolific for many years. His subjects were varied, but always there was the thread of the past. He had a photographic memory, so every house he had ever lived in as a youth was immortalized, as were neighborhoods and favorite places, the swimming pool at Kali Bening, the old bridge over the Kali Progo, the road to Semarang, the iconic Borobudur, the Alhambra movie theater in Magelang. In the 90s, he traveled to his home town of Magelang and spent several months sketching and exploring, reliving some of his boyhood’s better days.

Sadly, Niek later developed macular degeneration, which naturally affected his ability to paint. Undaunted, he persevered, adopting a new style. From faithful, detailed, realistic paintings, he turned to a more abstract style; Platonic rather than Aristotelian, he explained. No longer did he paint a clear beech or oak, but rather the idea of a tree. His late paintings reflect the new style and he rather liked it, hoping he had hit upon something original that made his work recognizable as a “real Straatman.”

At the age of 80, Niek was still full of enthusiasm and his head was still full of ideas for new paintings. This was not meant to be. He died in 2009 of sepsis following bypass surgery. 

Niek was married for over 30 years to An, but it was not a forever marriage. They had no children. His closest living relatives are the four Gravendaal sisters in California. We – Winnie, Ingrid, Linda and Peggy are getting up there in age but finally have the time to see what we can do about Oom Niek’s legacy. A beloved second cousin in Holland, Cindy Rodermond, became one of Niek’s confidantes and favorite relatives after his nieces emigrated to America (brought over as children aged 8 to 15). Cindy has long been very dedicated to “Project Nico”. We shall see where it all leads. The paintings, so many paintings, are in storage. And, of course, some are on our walls. In the early 1970s, Oom Niek and Tante An visited us for the first time in California. Niek became obsessed with Yosemite, and, of course, made paintings for us all.

It has to be said that the traumas of his life, both as a young child and then as a victim of war, left their mark on Niek, impassioning him to re-create the childhood of his memories in his art. Much love and devotion went into his portrayals of his beloved Java. And in the paintings of his former homes, always somewhere in the background, there is the figure of a tiny boy – himself, he was not shy to explain.

Niek was humble but, of course, hoped his work would live to acquire new admirers. His work is worthy of admiration and we are so happy that The Indo Project exists so that we can do a little advertising on his behalf. 

The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of the information and content of this article.