Vaerten Jan

Jan Vaerten was a Belgian artist who was born in 1909 in Turnhout and who died in Beerse in 1980. He was a painter, draftsman, designer of theater sets, tapestries and three-dimensional work. Self-taught, but received support and advice from A. Van Dyck. Started painting at the age of 30. In 1947 he took lessons under the direction of O. Zadkine at the Grande Chaumière in Paris. That year he also joined the Jeune Peinture Belge. From 1952 on, his work is stripped of a certain oppressive human content. The painting is processed more strictly and leaner. Main tones such as blue, black and purple are muted. Rectangles and circles replace the jagged line and the motif is reduced to a scheme. After 1953, a period of silence and reflection on new pictorial possibilities followed. Technically he strives for intensification of the pigment, transparency of color, glazing effects and enamel gloss. This mainly lyrical work hovers between abstraction and figuration, with here and there surreal elements. From the press: "J.V. started as a solid painter who portrayed the Kempen theme in a new way. At the same time, because of the many contacts with international artists, there was a change in his imagery, in which the metaphysical took on a greater significance." From 1969 three-dimensional canvases were also created. From 1951 he was a teacher at the Higher Institute in Antwerp. Co-founder of "Het Atelier" in Deurne. Work in the Museums in Antwerp and Brussels. Mentioned in BAS II and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. Source: Piron.