Co Westerik

Co Westerik and his work Touwtje springen (Jumping rope), 1955.

Jacobus (Co) Westerik (born March 2, 1924) is a Dutch artist, who worked as watercolorist, etcher, photographer, gouache painter, ceramicist, lithographer, painter, draftsman, wall painter, serigrapher and academy lecturer.^[1]

Life and work

Born in The Hague, Westerik received his education at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague from 1942 to 1947. After his graduation he mad a study trip to the United States in 1948. Back in the Netherlands, he settled as independent artist in The Hague. With the artists Herman Berserik, Jan van Heel, Willem Hussem and Jaap Nanninga he participated in the Verve group,^[1] which they founded in 1951 and resolved in 1957.

From 1954 to 1958 he was lecturer at the Internationale School and the Deutsche Schule in Scheveningen, and from 1955 to 1958 also at the Vrije Academie in The Hague. From 1958 to 1971 he was lecturer in figure drawing at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. And from 1960 to 1970 he also lectures at Ateliers '63 in Haarlem. In 1971 he moved to Rotterdam, and started a studio in the South of France, where he worked alternately. where he worked until 2010.^[1]

Westerik was awarded the Jacob Maris Prize three time, in 1951 and 1955 for painting and in 1953 for drawing. He also received the Rembrandt Prize of the city of Leiden, the State Prize for Visual Arts and Architecture, Cultural Prize of South Holland and the Hendrik Chabot Price of Anjerfonds Rotterdam. In 1999 he was appointed Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion and in 2005 an honorary member of Pulchri Studio, The Hague.

References

1. Co Westerik ; male / Netherlandish ; watercolorist, etcher, photographer, gouache painter, ceramicist, lithographer, painter, draftsman, wall painter, serigrapher, academy lecturer at rkd.nl, 2015.