Annelies "Anatole" Nelck (26 July 1925 – 22 August 2014) was a French painter and engraver, of Dutch ancestry. She was known for her paintings of landscapes of the
South of France
Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
, and
still-lifes
A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...
. Nelck had served in the 1940s as
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
's assistant, and as a model for his works.
Early life and education
Annelies Nelck was born on 26 July 1925, in
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million to Dutch parents from Holland (now the Netherlands). She was raised in the small town of
Vence
Vence (; ) is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France, north of Nice and Antibes on the Mediterranean coast.
Ecclesiastical history
The first known Bishop ...
in
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...
region in Southeastern France. She later gave herself the artist name "Anatole".
In 1938, Nelck moved to studied at
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten
The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. It is a classical academy, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. The school supports ...
(State Academy of Fine Arts) in Amsterdam.
While living in Amsterdam, Annelies married Jewish music student Ernst Katan in 1943, and together they had one son, Serge Katan (born 1943). Katan was part of the
Dutch resistance
The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...
, and tried to join Nelck in France but was intercepted and sent to
Kamp Amersfoort
Kamp Amersfoort (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp near the city of Amersfoort, the Netherlands. The official name was "Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort", P.D.A. or Amersfoort Police Transit Camp. 47,000 prisoners were held there between ...
in 1943. He was murdered by the German Nazis on September 1944.
Career
Nelck and her son returned to France in 1943, and she started working for
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
as his assistant and model. She was the model for Matisse's paintings and drawings, including ''Tulipes jaunes, fond de violet'' (1944), ''Annelies, tulipes et anémones'' (1944), and ' (1944). She continued to work for Matisse until 1946.
From 1947 to 1967, Nelck was married to the sculptor and painter
Jean Vincent de Crozals
Jean Vincent de Crozals (1922 – 2009) was a French painter and sculptor. He worked in wood, stone, reinforced cement, bronze, iron, ceramics, and paper; and was known for his animal sculptures and gouache paintings.
Early life and fami ...
, ending in divorce. De Crozal also worked as a model for Matisse.
Nelck belonged to the circle of the "Galerie Les Mages" founded by Alphonse Chave in Vence, and associated with artists such as
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...
, and
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...
. In 1950 she was invited to take part in ''Les Mains Éblouies'' exhibition at the Galerie Maeght in Paris.
In 1954, she designed a stained glass window x for the Anne Frank Secondary School in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, Germany which was restored in 2012.
Late life, death, and legacy
In 2011 she moved to Nexon, France where she remained for the last three years of her life. She died on the 22 August 2014 in Nexon.
Her work can be found in museum collections, including at the
Pushkin Museum
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...