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Theo Wolvecamp


1925-1992

Bio

Theo Wolvecamp is born on August 30, 1925 in Hengelo. His father, a tailor by trade, dies when he is nine.
During the Second World War, Wolvecamp takes drawing lessons. He collaborates with local painters and initially works in a cubist style. In 1945 he is admitted to the art academy of Arnhem, but leaves it in 1947 and finds studio space in Amsterdam. There he meets Corneille and Appel, who are surprised by his work. The spontaneous-abstract painting style that Wolvecamp has developed in a short time, fits well with their own development.
In July 1948, Wolvecamp is present at the foundation of the Experimental Group in Holland, and when Cobra is founded in November 1948; he also becomes a member of this group. The tumultuous Cobra manifestation in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in November 1949 prompts him to leave the movement, but he soon returns. He maintains contact with Appel, Constant and Corneille and takes part in the closing Cobra exhibition in Liège at the end of 1951.
In the 1950s, Wolvecamps develops his thick, abstract expressionist canvases with repetitive patterns. In 1954, after a one-year stay in Paris, he returns to Hengelo, where he continues his painting career in relative seclusion.
In the second half of the sixties, Wolvecamp changes style several times. In 1970, however, he returns to the style he developed in the fifties.
He dies in Amsterdam on October 11, 1992. He is then 67 years old.

Portret Theo Wolvecamp
photo Nico Koster
Werk

Untitled

1990
Acrylic on paper
25 × 32.5 cm