The Dutch painter Jan Roeland (1935) died in November 2016 at the age of eighty-one. As a tribute to this extraordinary and contemplative painter, the Kunsthal Rotterdam is presenting a selective visual narrative incorporating all his readily identifiable themes with 41 paintings from museum, corporate and private collections. It is a tribute to a painter whose strength lies in the combination of theme, use of colour and painted surface. He was self-taught, went on to become a teacher himself, won several major awards, and always stuck to what he was good at.
Poetry and layeredness
Jan Roeland’s work does not clamour for attention. It is too subtle and precise for that. He paints objects in a simplified form: toilet paper, a hammer, a table, a brush and palette. His stylised forms float between figuration and abstraction. The representation of a duck in three circles and a triangle bears witness to courage, but to humour as well. The painted surface is an indication of the lengthy process during which the painter has engaged with his canvas. The poetry and layeredness of his work are appreciated by a large group of admirers. A great many writers and artists were among his friends and acquaintances. Specially for the exhibition, Rudi Fuchs, Ina van Zyl, K. Schippers, Tijs Goldschmidt, Steven Aalders and Jan Andriesse have written texts and done a drawing about his work in which they make an appropriate contribution to a shared recollection.
Dutch Masters
About Jan Roeland
Jan Roeland (IJsselmuiden, 12 February 1935 – Amsterdam, 8 November 2016) began to paint as a self-taught artist. From 1959 he lived and worked in Amsterdam, where his work was shown mainly in galleries. It has been included in various museum, corporate and private collections. Roeland won the Jeanne Oosting Prize in 1981 and the Sandberg Prize in 1998. Two extensive monograph publications of his work appeared during his lifetime. Roeland was a passionate teacher and taught at the Academy for Fine Art in Enschede and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by the Dutch publication ‘Jan Roeland. A tribute’ with texts by Rudi Fuchs, Ina van Zyl, K. Schippers, Tijs Goldschmidt, Steven Aalders and Jan Andriesse. Published by Waanders & De Kunst [96 pp., 17 x 24 cm, approx. 100 colour and b&w illustrations, paperback, ISBN 978 94 6262 137 4, price € 19,95]
Exhibition Slewe Gallery
Simultaneously the Slewe Gallery in Amsterdam is organising an exhibition with late work by Jan Roeland. The two exhibitions form a tribute to a painter who has left his mark on Dutch painting.
PRESS
