D
ogs, cats, chickens, cows, horses, sheep. Hans Droog has
painted them all. Animal portraiture has been a part of
the Dutch native’s repertoire ever since he specialized in
model studies in portraiture at the Academy Minerva, School of
Fine Art and Design in Groningen, Holland. He spent the last
two years of his formal art education studying animals, visiting zoos
to examine crocodiles, alligators, elephants and other caged
wildlife. Some 30 years later, the oil painter’s ability to capture the
subtleties of skin, faces and hair with meticulous detail continues
to be a defining characteristic of his animal paintings and one of
the main reasons why he has drawn the attention of collectors and
notable clients including Anheuser-Busch, Ralston Purina, Deere
& Company and the St. Louis Zoological Park. How did Droog
find himself in the company of a premiere clientele?
Building connections
Droog emigrated to the U.S. in 1984. He settled in St.
Louis and found work as a commercial artist and illustrator,
which brought him income while he tried to establish a
foothold in the area’s fine arts scene. Droog showed his oil
paintings in local galleries, restaurants and banks, which led to
commissions. He participated in numerous art fairs and even
held shows at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. “In the mid-90s,
I was more active in the St. Louis art scene,” explains Droog,
who moved to rural Hermann, Missouri, located about a 60
miles west of St. Louis, in 1995.
“One way that you find clients is by going actively after a
goal,” says Droog. Two cases in point: commissioned portraits of
cattle and dogs. A local cattle farmer-friend informed him that
the Angus Association, which is headquartered in Missouri, was
looking for artists. He pursued this opportunity, which ultimately
led to four commissioned portraits of cows owned by one of the
association’s members.
Last year, Droog offered to paint pet portraits at the benefit
events of Support Dogs of St. Louis, a non-profit group that
trains dogs and donates support dogs to handicapped persons. He
hopes that these new connections lead to further pet portrait
commissions. “I think you have to build up personal relationships
with clients. If they like you, they might commission you.”
“Cats are the worst!”
One of the greatest challenges in portraiture for Droog is to
capture the likeness of the subject, especially when the subject is
someone’s pet. “The client knows the pet exactly.” At times,
Droog has had to repaint the shading of a dog’s hair because the
client had a different perception of the animal’s color. “If you
work with a fantasy animal, you don’t have to deal with that.
The client has his own image of how these animals look.”
When Droog accepts such a commission, he takes many
photographs — or at least tries to. “Cats are the worst! They
crawl under couches and hide.” For a piece commissioned by the
St. Louis Zoo, Droog had to get inside the cage of an elephant
bull, who promptly charged him. “The animals are nervous. It’s a
matter of luck and trial.”
A style all his own
Luck may have something to do with Droog’s success, but
his refined ability to depict his subjects “without mystical illu-sions
or picturesque references” is what leads art critics and col-lectors
to his work in the first place. “Every aspect of my sub-jects
is analyzed and faithfully recorded, from the wrinkles to
the hairy or feathery flows,” notes Droog in his artist statement.
Droog approaches his oil-on-canvas scenes of inanimate objects
much like he does animal portraiture. When Deere & Company
commissioned him to paint a tractor, he focused on the similari-ties
between farm machinery and cows. “I saw ‘the rear end’ of
an old John Deer tractor. I tried to give it some personality,
some spirit.”
A former finalist in the portrait competition in The Artist’s
Magazine, Droog has developed a reputation as a gifted realist
painter of animals and rural life that continues to spread, espe-cially
among art patrons in the agricultural industry. Most
recently, he was commissioned to create four deer statues and a
mural for a living history farm slated to open in Hermann in
2008. Competing in this niche market is tough, but Droog has
not focused on the competition: “I was confident that I could do
okay. Each artist has his own way of handling things.” AC
Contributing writer and communications
consultant Ligaya Figueras specializes in
business writing, marketing and media
relations for visual and performance
artists, writers, nonprofit organizations
and specialty service providers. She can
be reached at figuerasl@sbcglobal.net.
www.artscuttlebutt.com Serving the Visual Artist for 21 Years 7
by Ligaya Figueras
Portrait of Angus Cow by Hans Droog. Oil on canvas, 24" x 36". Droog’s pursuit of art patrons in the cattle
industry led to commissions of Angus cow portraits, such as that pictured above.
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