Dirk Koning - 2 Woodcut on Japanese paper, 2 Portraits. - Sold

This woodcut by Dirk Koning is signed in ink at the bottom right and his initials are printed at the bottom left.
Offered two beautiful woodcuts, signed lower right after the print D. Koning. Dimensions H. 15 x W. 11.5 cm.
Dirk Koning was born in 1888 in Grootschermer. He was determined to become a painter and settled in Amsterdam in 1913. Here he was soon included in a circle of artists. He became a member of De Onafhankelijken and other progressive art groups such as Het Signaal, De Branding and De Sfinx. In 1918 he moved to Hilversum and here he came into contact with astrology which fascinated him so much that he became an astrologer in addition to being a painter. In 1920 he moved to Laren and in 1927 to Blaricum where he met his future wife, the artist Lou Loeber. He also became friends with the artist Albert Fiks, among others. Like Lou Loeber, Dirk Koning was a pacifist, socialist, teetotaler and vegetarian. As a socialist he had an idealistic vision of painting. He worked in a clear visual language and developed a simplified form of realism, which was however not entirely without a tendency towards abstraction. He painted this beautiful still life in 1920 when he had just settled in Laren.