Henk van Gemert - Large (125x90cm) mixed media (acrylic, collage, watercolor) - 1975 - beautifully framed - Sold

• Impressive expressionist abstract mixed technique that the Amsterdam self-taught artist Henk van Gemert made in 1975 with acrylic paint, oil paint, paper, cardboard and watercolor. Signed and dated lower right. In a beautiful (and heavy) silver-colored frame. Dimensions including frame are 125x90cm (HxW)
  

NB!! DUE TO THE LARGE SIZE OF THIS PAINTING, PICK UP AT ARTPOINT IN PURMEREND IS THE ONLY OPTION!!



Henk van Gemert was born in Amsterdam on March 16, 1903 and died there in 2002. As a 4-year-old boy he lost his father.

His foster father – the lithographer De Munter – discovered his talent for drawing at an early age. His mother, however, saw him as more of a decent office clerk. De Munter won this educational battle and ensured that Van Gemert joined the graphic company 'Van Leer & Co', which he would later enjoy with the lessons learned. The war broke out and Van Leer was doing poorly, which prompted Van Gemert to paint more. Van Gemert is therefore an autodidact par excellence.

He mainly painted many Limburg landscapes in the Maastricht area. Exhibitions of his work encouraged the German Hermann Göring to purchase his work. As a result, Van Gemert was invited to become a member of the Kultuurkamer. Van Gemert refused and went into hiding.

In the last years of the war, Van Gemert came into contact with Karel Appel. They had a joint studio on Zwanenburgwal in Amsterdam. At that time, Appel still painted mainly naturalistically.

Friendship with De Jong – an amateur painter – (and owner of Weerdenstein castle on the Vecht, where Henk also lived for a while) prompted Van Gemert and De Jong to move south via Brussels to Aix-en-Provence. Canvases painted by them along the way were exchanged for food and shelter.

During his time in Amsterdam, Van Gemert combined his work as an artist with the job of tour guide at the National and Municipal Museums of Amsterdam. In the meantime he visited many Southern European countries to paint. With his third wife he moved south for good and lived in a castle in Chomérac. In addition to restoring the castle, he founded a regional artists' association in the village (Arc Rochechauve Chomérac). Finally – in 1982 – Van Gemert moved on to southern Spain (La Coveta Fuma).

Van Gemert constantly changed his painting style and, in addition to being a watercolourist, was also a (pen) draftsman and oil painter of both landscapes and cityscapes.

He was a member of 'Stuwing' and the Federation of Associations of Professional Visual Artists.

Mentioned in Scheen, Jacobs.