SikkensFoundation

History

HISTORY — The Sikkens paint and varnish factory, which started in 1792 as a varnish manufacturer in Groningen and joined the chemical concern KZK (later Akzo) in 1962, is one of a series of Dutch companies which have built up a special relationship with artists, designers and architects. A number of illustrious early examples of this include the Leerdam glass factories, the fashion and department store Metz & Co., and the Van Nelle factories. No matter how different these companies may be in terms of size, production and composition, they have one thing in common: an inspired and progressive management. The directors are aware of the influence of design (of their product) on society and on the quality of the environment. The management have a sharp vision of their role as carriers of culture, a position which extends beyond the immediate interests of the company. All these qualities could be attributed to the chemist August M. Mees who entered the employment of Sikkens in 1924. The necessary innovations and extensions took place in the paint factory under his management. In 1939 the company moved to a newly built factory in Sassenheim. A number of mergers followed in 1958, resulting in the Sikkens Group, which continued as part of the Coatings Division of Akzo from 1969. After the war, Mees expressly related his company policy to the new leap forward in art and culture. Sikkens sold paint, paint is color and color was up and coming after the grey years of the war and the post-war period. A new generation of artists and architects based themselves on the heritage of De Stijl, with color heroes such as Rietveld, Van Doesburg and Van der Leck. Color creates the space, and this principle was the starting point of various artists and architects in the 1950s and 1960s. Sikkens first exhibition on the subject of color in the home, made in cooperation with the Goed Wonen (Good Living) Foundation in 1957 was very well received. Sikkens decided to have a range of colors composed by artists who were affiliated to the Liga Nieuw Beelden. Color was an important medium in the Liga’s aim to achieve a synthesis of architecture and the visual arts. The creation of the range of colors was widely publicized with the “Color” exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum. The director, Mees, announced the foundation of the Sikkens Prize on this occasion and it was inaugurated in 1959. The initiative by Mees was, on the one hand, the result of his interest in the visual arts, and on the other hand, his position in a company in which color is a leading factor in the manufacture of the products. The prize was intended as a mark of appreciation of those artists, architects and designers who had created a work in which a synthesis of color and space was achieved. In the first few years the attention focused on the function of color, the effect of the environment and human behavior, and the methodical application of color. Color, and therefore the Sikkens Prize, had an educational value. Back to home