Lucebert (; Lubertus Jacobus Swaanswijk; 15 September 1924 – 10 May 1994) was a Dutch artist who first became known as the

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

of the COBRA movement. He was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in 1924. He entered the Institute for Arts and Crafts in 1938 and took part in the first exhibition of the COBRA group 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.

in 1949.

Biography

Lucebert's talent was discovered when he started working for his father after school. After half a year of art school, he chose to be homeless between 1938 and 1947. In 1947, a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

convent offered him a roof over his head, in exchange for a huge

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

painting. Because the nuns could not appreciate his work, they had it entirely painted over with white paint. He belonged to the Dutch literary movement of De Vijftigers, which was greatly influenced by the European avant-garde movement COBRA. Lucebert's early work especially shows this influence, and his art in general reflects a rather pessimistic outlook on life. His strong personality appealed to many. As a poet he laid foundation for revolutionary innovation in Dutch poetry. Most of his poems were collected in ''Gedichten 1948–1965''. After this period of composing poetry, he worked primarily in the

visual arts The visual arts are Art#Forms, genres, media, and styles, art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as ...

known as figurative-

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

from the 1960s. His work is being translated to English on collected works. Well known is his line ''""'' from the poem ' ("The very old one sings"). The adjective " weerloos" means "defenseless", "unable to defend oneself", so the meaning is "All things of value are defenseless". This line was put on top of the office building of an

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

(near the Blaak station) in

neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypt ...

letters, including his name, sometime in the 1980s or earlier. It wasn't the first but is certainly the most prominent commercial use of the line; today three more buildings in the area display it on their walls. Similarly, written on the city's central library just across the street is ''" – Erasmus"'', "All the world is my fatherland –

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

". Lucebert died on 10 May 1994 in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

, Netherlands. Lucebert was also a noted anti-apartheid activist.

Exhibitions

* 1949 – International Exhibition of Experimental Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1959 – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1961 – Stedelijk van Abbe-Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands * 1963 – Staedtlische Kunstgalerie, Bochum, Germany * 1963 – Marlborough New London Gallery, London * 1964 – Museum Boymans-van Beuningen,

; Kunsthalle Baden-Baden * 1964 – Documenta 111, Kassel, Germany * 1969 – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam * 1969 – Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland – with Karel Appel and Tajiri * 1977 – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1982 – Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany * 1983 – Kunstverein Hochrhein, Bad Säckingen, Germany * 1984 – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1985 – Rai, Kunstmesse Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1987 – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 1988 – Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Kunstverein Freiburg i.Br., Germany * 1988 – Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria * 1989 – Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany * 1989 – Städtische Kunstgalerie, Bochum, Germany * 1989 – Kunsthaus Grenchen, Grenchen, Switzerland

Awards

* 1954 – prize for literature from the city of Amsterdam * 1959 – "Mediterranean Prize" of the Paris Biennale * 1962 – 2nd "Marzotto Prize" * 1964 – "Carlo Cardazzo" prize at the 32nd Biennale in Venice, Italy * 1965 – " Constantijn Huygensprijs" * 1967 – " P.C. Hooftprijs" – the highest Dutch Governmental prize for literature * 1983 – " Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren" for Dutch literature

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Lucebert Swaanswijk are: *

Museum de Fundatie Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of vis ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control (arts) 1924 births 1994 deaths Dutch male poets Writers from Amsterdam Painters from Amsterdam Constantijn Huygens Prize winners P. C. Hooft Award winners Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren winners 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Abstract painters Dutch watercolourists Dutch lithographers Pseudonymous artists 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century lithographers