Karel Appel

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Karel Appel

Karel Appel in 1982
Birth name Christiaan Karel Appel
Born 25 April 1921(1921-04-25)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died 3 May 2006 (aged 85)
Zürich, Switzerland
Nationality Dutch
Field Painting, sculpting, poetry
Training Rijksakademie
Movement Experimentele Groep Holland, Cobra
Influenced by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean Dubuffet
Sculpture by Karel Appel in The Hague
Sculpture by Karel Appel in The Hague

Christiaan Karel Appel (25 April 19213 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-garde movement Cobra in 1948.

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[edit] Childhood

Christiaan Karel Appel was born on 25 April 1921[1] in his parents' house at Dapperstraat 7 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. On the ground floor, his father, Jan Appel, had a barber shop. His mother, born Johanna Chevalier, was a descendant of French Huguenots. Karel Appel had three brothers.[2]

At fourteen, Appel produced his first real painting, on canvas, a still life of a fruit basket. For his fifteenth birthday, his wealthy uncle Karel Chevalier gave him a paint set and an easel. An avid amateur painter himself, Chevalier gave his namesake some lessons in painting.[3]

[edit] Career

He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten there from 1940 to 1943 and had his first show in Groningen in 1946. He was influenced by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Jean Dubuffet; he joined the Nederlandse Experimentele Groep and joined CoBrA in 1948 together with Corneille, Constant and Jan Nieuwenhuys (see also Aart Kemink). His 1949 fresco 'Questioning Children' in the Amsterdam City Hall caused controversy and was covered up for ten years.

As a result of this controversy Appel moved to Paris in 1950 and he developed his international reputation travelling to Mexico, the USA, Yugoslavia and Brazil. He is particularly noted for his mural work and lived between New York and Florence.

[edit] Death

Appel died on 3 May 2006 in his home in Zürich, Switzerland. He suffered from a heart ailment.[4] He was buried on 16 May 2006 at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.[5]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Appel, Karel: Psychopathological Notebook. Drawings and Gouaches 1948–1950. Bern - Berlin: Verlag Gachnang & Springer, 1999. ISBN 978-3-906127-57-6
  • Tapié, Michel; Amsterdam (Netherlands). Stedelijk Museum. Karel Appel (Publisher: Amsterdam, author, 1955) OCLC 11554905 (Worldcat link: [1])

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Dutch) Houts, Cathérine van (2003). Karel Appel : de biografie. Amsterdam: Olympus, 13. ISBN 9789025419134. 
  2. ^ (Dutch) Houts, Cathérine van (2003). Karel Appel : de biografie. Amsterdam: Olympus, 13–14. ISBN 9789025419134. 
  3. ^ (Dutch) Houts, Cathérine van (2003). Karel Appel : de biografie. Amsterdam: Olympus, 20–21. ISBN 9789025419134. 
  4. ^ Fox, Margalit (2006-05-09). Karel Appel, Dutch Expressionist Painter, Dies at 85. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  5. ^ Karel Appel begraven op Père-Lachaise in Parijs. De Telegraaf (2006-05-16). Retrieved on 2008-06-06.

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Appel, Karel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Appel, Christiaan Karel (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Dutch painter and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 25 April 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH 3 May 2006
PLACE OF DEATH Zürich, Switzerland