Wim de Haan (Amsterdam1913 – Amsterdam 1967)
Born in Amsterdam, De Haan grows up in Haarlem. In 1937 he is
sent out to Indonesia by a commercial company. There he stays
until 1942. In 1942 he is forced to work on the Birma
railway asa Japanese POW. He survives the labour camp by the skin of his
teeth, returning to Holland in 1946. Over the next few years he
engrosses himself in the study of philosophy, psychology and
social sciences. In 1953 he decidesto devote himself entirely
to drawing and painting. In his earliestworks he still draws and
paints quite heavily on themes andmotifs that have strong links with
pre-war Surrealism, but soonthe work begins to take on an
Abstract-Expressionist character, with the drawings developing
quite separately from the paintings.
His drawings are dominated by expressive linear structures, in
which symbols – some more insightful than others – can be recog-
nised. He continually explores the possibilities of pen, brushes,
ink and paper. The free use of line becomes a trademark of his
drawing style. The ‘lyrical-abstract’ paintings he produces at this
stage are characterised by abstract signs, and blots of colour with
blurry edges. Within a year he begins to mix ash, sand and other
materials into his paints. For a while his work develops parallel to
that of his friend Jaap Wagemaker. Both artists are members of
the Liga Nieuw Beelden (League of the New Image) group.
Constantly in search of new possibilities, De Haan takes himself
in a different direction in 1957. He allows the two-dimensional
surface to be broken up by means of cut-outs and areas that
protrude and recede from the surface. In addition, he adds all
kinds of ‘objets trouvés’. In 1958 he has his first show at Gallery
’t Venster in Rotterdam. From 1960 onwards De Haan exhibits
fairly regularly in London as well as in Cambridge, Lyon,
Frankfurt and elsewhere. In the 1960s he joins two artists’
groups, Europa and Oekwa, with whom he shows in Holland,
Germany and Belgium. His freestanding objects, dating from after
1962, bring out his interest in magic and mysticism even more
clearly than his earlier work. Wim de Haan died in Amsterdam in
1967. A memorial show at the Grosvenor Gallery in London is
held in the same year, followed in 1975 by a large retrospective
exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.