A Life of Light and Shadow
The story begins in Tasmania, Australia, far from the Dutch landscapes of her birth. Tjaarke Hendrika Maria Maas spends her early childhood painting in this remote setting before returning to Europe at seventeen. The path leads to the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, then across the Atlantic to New York. In the studios of New York, a new discipline takes hold: the ancient art of icon painting. This encounter with sacred imagery shifts her focus toward the theology of the image.
Life moves with a restless energy. To support her family, Maas works as a model, her face appearing on the covers of glossy magazines while she travels through Europe, Japan, and Australia. By 1996, she settles in Florence, Italy. At the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, she pursues her studies with intensity, eventually graduating cum laude in 2003. Her work begins to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual, as she integrates the study of icons with her own writing of poetry, prose, and fairy tales for children.
The Sacred and the Earthly
Her studio practice is defined by a profound connection to tradition and texture. Maas utilizes diverse techniques to bring her visions to life, often working on wood with materials that demand patience and precision. Her output is vast, exceeding five hundred works including paintings, etchings, drawings, and sketches.
- Techniques: Egg tempera, gold leaf on wood, oil, pigment on wood, and mixed media.
- Subject Matter: Religious icons, portraits, birds such as pigeons and seagulls, and still lifes including fish and animals.
- Notable Works: Self portrait with beads, The Annunciation, Pigeon Triptich, and the Goldfaced series.
The influence of Russian sacred art, literature, and philosophy permeates her creative process. Following a conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church, her work takes on a deeper liturgical weight. She explores themes of transformation and light, often using gold leaf to catch the eye and direct the spirit.
The Final Retreat
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder at age twenty-six marks a period of internal struggle. Seeking solitude, Maas retreats to the forests surrounding the Hermit Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, known as Eremo delle Carceri. Under the direction of the priest Don Gino, she works on commissioned icons in the quietude of the Italian landscape.
The end comes abruptly near Monte Subasio, close to Assisi. In June 2004, Maas is found following a fall from one of the mountain slopes. At the time of her death, she was working in a small cave on an unfinished icon depicting the Transfiguration. She remains buried in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori in Florence, leaving behind a body of work that spans continents and explores the intersection of the divine and the human experience.
