#artoteek

Kijkduin an unknown artist village near DEN HAAG

There was a time that Den Haag had multiple important art galeries, but it now looks like practically all have disappeared. I do not why , but many have stopped their business. One of them must have been Roger Verstraten , since it was about 8 years ago that I encountered at the local book market a box containing all kinds of small publications on Gerard Verdijk. Being a collector of his works I bought the box and many have since become part of my personal library, but one publication was present with multiple copies in the box and 2 of these were signed by Gerard. I did not discover this until recently I leafed through them and noticed that, besides my own personal copy, another one was signed and dedicated to Roger Verstraten. The little book ” VERGETEN DAT JE HET VERGAT ” was published on the occasion of the Artoteek exhibition in 2000.

Readers of this blog know of my admiration for Ossip. It started when i first saw one of his small figures at the Artoteek and wanted to own it for my collection. Far too expensive it was, but when i left the Gemeentemuseum and started FTN books. The museum and my colleagues presented me with the same sculpture i had seen at the Artoteek. It sparked the interest in Ossip and his art and since i have visited numerous times his studio and made frequent purchases.

  One of my personal favourite painters is Jan Roëde. Not very well known outside the Netherlands, but in the Netherlands, he has build a name for himself with frequent gallery and museum exhibitions. One thing I want to share with the readers of this blog is the frequent return of some elements in his paintings. Children, parents and some animals are to be found on his colourful paintings, but the one I like personally most is this “bird he puts in many cases next to his signature.

Jan Roëde was a contemporary of Piet Ouborg, Jaap Nanninga and Wim Sinemus, whom he met regularly in The Hague at the cafe DE POSTHOORN.. He was influenced by Miró’s form of abstract Surrealism. His paintings, populated by figures and shapes, are the result of a search for a world of forms that arose from him personally. Abstract or figurative was all the same to him. In fact the process of painting was more important than the forms that came out of it. In the last 2 decades. The Miro liked shaped forms almost disappeared from his painting and in their place came almost childish figures that populated the canvasses from that time on. On many a small bird appeared like a sort of extra signature.

Will Leewens (1923-1986).. playful abstract painting