Born 1921, Amsterdam - Died 2006, Zurich
Painter, sculptor
Education
19 years old he is admitted to the Rijks-Academie in Amsterdam, where he study from 1940 to 1943.
Biography
In 1946 his first solo show was held in Groningen, the Netherlands, and he participated in the Jonge Schilders exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam. About this time Appel was influenced first by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, then by Jean Dubuffet. In 1948 Karel Appel founded Nederlandse Experimentele Group together with among others Constant, Corneille and Eugene Brands, and later that year he was one of six who signed the manifest of the COBRA movement in Paris.
Beside his large production of paintings Karel Appel can add graphic works and illustrations, sculptures, ceramic works and large decorations of buildings and rooms. With his colors and childish lines Karel Appel seduces most of us, because we recognize the childhood and the fantasy in his pictures. His unspoiled motifs of children and animals in this period are depicted with strong and bright colors surrounded by sharp black outlines. While the motifs stands the way of expression are replaced in the beginning of the fifthties by a more freely and more emotional way. The quantities of paint too are used more unrestrained, and for a period he paints almost three-dimensional paintings.
Børge Birch, who was friend with Asger Jorn before COBRA, is introduced to Appel and they form a partnership which leads to several exhibitions - solo in 1949-71-83 and many mixed exhibitions alongside many of his COBRA- friends. Karel Appels work is exhibited in many gallerys in USA and all over Europe as well his work is represented in the finest museums in the world.
Selected exhibitions
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Guggenheim Museum New York
Selected awards
He received the UNESCO Prize at the Venice Biennale of 1954
Graphics prize at the Ljubljana Biennial in Yugoslavia
International Prize for Painting at the São Paulo Bienal
Awarded anin
John Solomon Guggenheim Fellowship Award - New York, USA
Email request to Galerie Birch on current artworks for sale
