Thierry Veltman (16 December 16, 1939 – July 2023) was a Dutch

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While ...

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He focused in particular on figures and

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

Early life and education

Thierry Veltman was born in Bussum. He won his first art prize at the age of 12, at an international exhibition of children's drawings in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In 1958, when he was 19, he exhibited his own interpretations of the

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 ...

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

. Another

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 ...

exhibition followed in 1960. Veltman went on to study at the

Gerrit Rietveld Academie The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History The Instituut voor Kuns ...

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 ...

. Spending time during his youth in South America remained a lifelong source of inspiration.

Career

From the early 1960s, Veltman exhibited extensively at art galleries in the Netherlands and sometimes beyond. Veltman used many drawing and painting techniques, often in mixtures. He was also active in sculpting, ceramics and art research. A 1975 major exhibition of his work in Apeldoorn was opened by Veltman's friend, the native-Dordrecht poet C. Buddingh'. Veltman taught many students painting and drawing, both 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 ...

and at Ichthus College in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. At Ichthus he founded the department of Art and Communication. Veltman wrote the art education book "Individuality and drawing" (1978; in Dutch).

Personal

Since 1966 he lived mostly in

, with a short interlude in

Amerongen Amerongen () is a town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Province of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, on the border of the Utrecht Hill Ridge. It lies ab ...

. Thierry Veltman died in July 2023. He was survived by his wife Eelke.

Bibliography

About the artist

* 1974: ''Louis Schrikkel, schilderijen; Thierry Veltman, schilderijen; Anneke Gladdines, tekeningen''.

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

: Cultureel Centrum De Beyerd (catalogue) * 1975: ''Thierry Veltman: schilderijen, tekeningen en etsen'' aintings, drawings and etchings

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

: Gemeentelijke Van Reekum Galerij (catalogue)

By the artist

* 1978: ''Individualiteit en het tekenen'' ndividuality and drawing

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...

: Thieme () * 1985: ''De gouden ploeg; Troost 75 jaar''.

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a large town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Nissewaard, and ha ...

: Troost Pernis Group.

References

External links

Personal website

Blog about Thierry Veltman
by Joris Veltman
Virtual exhibition: Thierry Veltman on Return

(paintings and bibliography in Dutch)
Thierry Veltman page
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

(includes references in Dutch art history books)
Etchings of Dordrecht
by Veltman {{DEFAULTSORT:Veltman, Thierry 1939 births 2023 deaths Dutch art educators Dutch contemporary painters Dutch male painters Dutch potters Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors Dutch ceramists Gerrit Rietveld Academie alumni People from Bussum Artists from Dordrecht 20th-century Dutch sculptors 20th-century Dutch artists 21st-century ceramists 20th-century Dutch male artists Dutch graphic artists