Adrie's Blog

In the mid 80's I started collected art in earnest - mostly based on dutch art post World War II.
The core of my collection was the famous painter Jan Sierhuis, from Amsterdam - and via him I came into contact with a variety of other painters such as Karel Appel, Lucebert, Corneille and many others. Next to the paintings themselves, which to me enrich my ife, I also added many contacts over the years with Gallery owners, musea directors (Rudi Fuchs) and was I honored to cooperate with Jan Sierhuis and Peter Halley to publish books about their art. In all, I met many art-loving, likeminded people all over the world.

It shows that if you have a common interest, it isn't actually that hard to make new connections. People in such an environment are often prepared to help you with new introductions. There are many passtimes that bring you into contact with a specific group, often a totally different then the one you would ordinarily speak to in your daily occupation. This is one of the reasons I always promote developing your general knowledge and broad interests so that you know a little bit more then average about things that come your way. Until today, I have hundreds of people around the globe that I know I can reach out to, whom I have gotten to know through our joint passion for art.

Hereby a short description of Jan Sierhuis,
Sierhuis grew up during the years of the post WW1 depression. His father died when he was only 2 years old. During his early youth he took to drawing and working with clay, and was given a painters set when he was nine. As a boy he often would make long rambles through Amsterdam. He grew up with the many city scenes we know from Breitner and Israels, representing a city full of simple people, working hard to survive. But also a city with a lot of joie de vivre and solidarity. Whilst Sierhuis travelled extensively during his later years, he remains a true Amsterdammer at the core of his being.

Instead of going to the Academy of art, he was sent to a local trade school to become a house-painter instead. This vocational training gave him the knowledge and understanding of the materials he would use to his benefit later on.

He, together with Appel, Corneille and Lucebert, is at the centre of post-war developments in Art. During 1945 he is admitted to the evening study at the "Rijksacademie" which he leaves again after a falling out. He is involved with the Experimentalists in 1947 and the CoBrA group in 1948. He does not join them however as he is considered too young.

Development of his work

Jan Sierhuis is above all an expressionist. He finds his inspiration with the masters like Cezanne, Matisse, Van Gogh and Picasso.
In his early years, he paints naturalistic landscapes. Impressed by the sheer power of abstrahism during the 50's and 60's he works in abstracts for a period of time. His work up until the 60s s mostly classifiable as Expressionism. After that you see a period during which his work is overwhelmingly about human figures. After that Sierhuis changes into more figurative themes such as dancing figures, portraits and landscapes.

During the summermonths, Jan Sierhuis lives mainly in Spain with his family. He develops a passion for Flamenco there which dance influences his work greatly. The flamenco inspires him in the last years to start working in 3D.


Exhibitions

Jan Sierhuis has had tentoonstellingen in the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Argentinia, Switzerland, Dutch Antilles, Colombia, Ireland, United States, Sweden, Denmar, Norway, Germany, Poland and Japan.

For those of you wanting to see a real Sierhuis - you can currently find a number of his paintings at Galery Nico Koster on the Spiegelstraat - all from his Flamenco period, rich, expressive, full of colour and dynamic. Well worth a visit.