Joost Baljeu (1 November 1925 – 1 July 1991) was a Dutch painter, sculptor and writer. He is known for his large outdoor painted steel structures and his book on

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (; born Christian Emil Marie Küpper; 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He married three times. Personal life Theo van Do ...

Life

Joost Baljeu was born in Middelburg on 1 November 1925. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1939–45) he began painting in an expressionist, realistic and semi-abstract idiom. After Cubism he evolved to constructivism. He made his first reliefs in 1954-55. From 1957 to 1972 he was a professor at the

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague The Royal Academy of Art (, KABK) is an art and design academy in The Hague, offering programs at both the Education in the Netherlands, HBO bachelor's and master's levels, as well as PhD programs. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (pa ...

in the Hague. The Canadian artist Eli Bornstein began to make three-dimensional "structurist" reliefs during a sabbatical in Italy and the Netherlands in 1957. He met and was influenced by artists such as

Jean Gorin Albert Jean Gorin (2 December 1899 – 29 March 1981) was a French neoplastic painter and constructive sculptor. He was a disciple of Piet Mondrian, and remained true to the concept of rigid geometricism and use of primary colors, but pushed the ...

, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin,

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in ''South Pacific (musica ...

Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was bo ...

and

Georges Vantongerloo Georges Vantongerloo (24 November 1886, Antwerp – 5 October 1965, Paris) was a Belgian sculptor, painter, designer of furniture and buildings, and founding member of the De Stijl group. Life From 1905 to 1909 Vantongerloo studied Fine Art at th ...

. In 1958-59 Baljeu was a guest lecturer at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

in Canada. In 1966 he was visiting professor at the Minneapolis School of Art in the US. He died on 1 July 1991 in Amsterdam.

Work

Exhibitions

*1965 Zonnehof,

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

*1975/1976 Gemeentemuseum,

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 ...

*1979

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...

Otterlo Otterlo is a village in the municipality of Ede of province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, in or near the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe. The Kröller-Müller Museum, named after Helene Kröller-Müller, is situated nearby and has the world ...

*1991

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.

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 ...

*2000 Steel in Picture (group) in Old Slot Heemstede: F19 (model 1986/87)

Museums

* The Mondriaan House in

. Two works are part of the museum: **Synthetic Construction F5-2 CD (1966/68) and **Synthetic Construction F15 No. 1. (1983/87), :The Sculpture F26 1990 was donated to the museum in 1991 by Baljeu's widow.

Public spaces

*''Lightning'' (1955), Wijkcentrum Open Vaart, Meidoornplein in Amsterdam-Noord *''Synthetic construction F8-1B'' (1978), Plesmanweg, The Hague *''Wall sculpture'' (1980), police Burg. Wegstapel Square in

Zoetermeer Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2023 this had grown to 126.998 ...

(architectural design of colored plexiglass panels in a two-story aluminum construction) *''Synthetic construction F11'' (1981), courtyard Vest in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

- reinstated in 1999 *''Synthetic construction F13'' (1984), Avenue of the United Nations in Dordrecht - reinstated in 1999 *''F26'' (1990) in the sculpture park of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo *''Spacetime (I)'' (1989) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander district *''Spacetime II'' (restored in 2004) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander

Publications

*''Mondrian or Miró'' (1958): book published by ''De Beuk'', Amsterdam *''Structure'' (1958-1964): editor of a journal on new art *''Attempt at a theory of synthesist plastic expression'' (1963): book published by ''Alec Tiranti,'' London *''Theo van Doesburg'' (1974): book published by ''Studio Vista'', London

References

Citations Sources * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baljeu, Joost 1925 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Academic staff of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague People from Middelburg, Zeeland 20th-century Dutch male artists