Erwin de Vries (21 December 1929 – 31 January 2018) was a

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

se painter and sculptor. De Vries was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

, and is the half-brother of Henry Lucien de Vries, who served as governor of Suriname from 1965 until 1967.

Wim Bos Verschuur Wim Bos Verschuur, born Bernard Willem Hendrik Verschuur (23 May 1904 – 4 January 1985) was a Surinamese politician, activist, artist, and writer. On 30 July 1943, he was arrested and interned for opposing governor Johannes Kielstra; this cause ...

, his art teacher, convinced his parents to send him to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to further his education. He studied at the

Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten The Royal Academy of Art (, KABK) is an art and design academy in The Hague, offering programs at both the HBO bachelor's and master's levels, as well as PhD programs. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (part of the Confrerie Pictura), ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and at the

Rijksacademie 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 ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. De Vries's first exhibition was in 1948 in Paramaribo. His work has since been displayed at the

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

and the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. He is the designer of the in

. De Vries has also exhibited a great deal in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

; there he became acquainted with the work of

Barrington Watson Basil Barrington Watson Order of Distinction, CD (9 January 1931 – 26 January 2016) was a Jamaican painter. Biography Born in 1931 January 9th in Lucea, Jamaica, Lucea, Barrington Watson made his original mark in Jamaica as a football player ...

, whose erotically charged paintings matched his own in tone.

References

*Veerle Poupeye. ''Caribbean Art''. London; Thames and Hudson; 1998.

External links

Biographical research into the life and work of the Surinamese artist Erwin de Vries
* 1929 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Surinamese painters 21st-century Surinamese painters People from Paramaribo Surinamese sculptors {{Suriname-painter-stub