MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ FOOLISH ELEGANCE
The first elegant on the list poses a small identity problem. Who was this man impeccably dressed with jacket, waistcoat, bow tie, hat with carefully raised brim and gloves color "fresh butter" placed on the edge of the table, next to a bock of beer through which are reflected the red and white checks of the tablecloth? Jimmy van der Lak (1903-1990)! Sure, but who was Jimmy van der Lak? A Harlem dandy? A successful boxer? A manager of top athletes? A professional cabaret dancer? A famous actor or show man? A little bit of everything at once but also something even more unexpected ... A native of Suriname, Jimmy arrived in Amsterdam in 1925. He was then the only "black" in the city. Being a curiosity, he quickly gained a reputation for tap dancing. In the 1930s, the competition became fierce and the genre "tap dancer" gradually going out of style, he became a bartender and then an extra for the theater where he even played the role of Othello for the local film industry, before talkies. It was while shooting one of these films that he met the actress and painter Nola Hatterman who offered to use him as a model for her paintings.
Nola Hatterman (1899-1944) On the Terrace, portrait of Jimmy van der Lak Stedelijk Amsterdam, 1930
So she painted this portrait of him, seated like a great lord in the same restaurant where he had previously been a simple waiter. Then, overnight, he became a boxer, the clenched fist that we can see in this portrait confirms that he must have had a pretty persuasive right! He was very successful as a boxer to the point of organising matches in Amsterdam himself, then opening his own boxing school! Fortune continued to smile on him for a while in the boxing rings, but he was not satisfied and ended up becoming a pimp ... still in Amsterdam. It’s a pretty surprising career achievement, but in those pre-war times when Jimmy lived, the world of boxing had a reputation for leading to everything and especially pimping ... strong armed. At least this rather extra-ordinary elegant didn't end up being a dealer and preferred to sell love on the street corners rather than death.
