grand valley state university CYRIL LIXENBERG
An Artist’s Journey Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey August 23 through November 1, 2013
This exhibition program is supported by a generous gift from Larry and Elaine Rutowski Shay and, in part, by public funds from the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York and a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation. welcome welkom
Een reden waarom ik zoveel plezier Cyril heeft studenten van Grand Valley One reason I enjoy leading Grand Cyril has mentored Grand Valley students, beleef aan het leiding geven aan de Grand begeleid, studentenportfolio’s herzien, Valley State University is the opportu- critiqued student portfolios, judged art Valley State University is de kans om in kunstwedstrijden gejureerd, studenten nity to work in a liberal arts environment competitions, hosted students traveling een creatieve omgeving te werken, die op buitenlandse reizen onderdak enriched by art at every turn and in abroad and also inspired young K–12 op zoveel plekken op onze campussen verleend en hij heeft ook jonge leerlingen virtually every space on our campuses. students through art programs in coordi- verrijkt is door kunstwerken. Collegezalen, geïnspireerd door middel van kunst- Classrooms, laboratories, libraries nation with Grand Valley State University’s laboratoria, bibliotheken en zelfs onze programma’s in samenwerking met de and even residence halls function as a charter schools. His creativity challenges woonruimtes voor studenten fungeren charter schools van Grand Valley State university-wide museum in support of and inspires us daily—both on our walls als een universiteitsmuseum ter onder- University. Zijn creativiteit zorgt iedere our academic mission. and displayed outside on our grounds steuning van onze academische missie. dag voor een inspiratie en uitdaging voor and plazas. Collaborating West Michigan ons—zowel op onze muren als buiten More than twelve thousand works of institutions in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Deze universiteit onderhoudt meer dan onze campusterreinen. Samenwerkende art are preserved by this university— Holland and Saugatuck will showcase twaalfduizend kunstwerken—uit ieder instituten in West Michigan, in Grand hailing from every settled continent, Lixenberg’s works this fall as well. These bewoond continent, waarin de culturen Rapids, Muskegon, Holland en reflecting the culture of many nations, exhibitions explore and celebrate his van vele landen worden weerspiegeld, Saugatuck laten deze herfst ook werken and created by talented artists, both unique artistic legacy. gecreëerd door getalenteerde kunste- van Lixenburg zien. Deze tentoonstel- known and anonymous. This year we naars, zowel bekend als anoniem. Dit lingen onderzoeken en vieren zijn unieke celebrate the work of one artist from jaar vieren wij het werk van een kunste- artistieke erfenis. the Netherlands who is very well known naar uit Nederland die zeer bekend is in to us at Grand Valley. His work, gifts Grand Valley. Zijn werk, schenkingen en and presence among us have enriched aanwezigheid hebben zowel studenten students, faculty, staff and campus Thomas J. Haas als leden van de faculteit, universit- visitors alike. Cyril Lixenberg is an President eitsmedewerkers en bezoekers aan de accomplished contemporary sculptor Grand Valley State University campus verrijkt. Cyril Lixenberg is een Thomas J. Haas and graphic artist who, while working 2006–present begaafde hedendaagse beeldhouwer President primarily in Amsterdam, has enjoyed a en grafisch kunstenaar die, terwijl hij Grand Valley State University special relationship with West Michigan hoofdzakelijk in Amsterdam werkt, de 2006–heden for the last quarter century. His archives afgelopen 25 jaar een speciale band and life’s artistic work from 1950 to the heeft onderhouden met West-Michigan. present day are explored in the Fall Zijn archieven en artistieke levenswerk Arts Celebration 2013 exhibition Cyril vanaf 1950 tot heden worden onderzocht Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey and in in de tentoonstelling Fall Arts Celebration this accompanying catalog. 2013 Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey en in deze bijbehorende catalogus. table of contents
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02 Welcome 48 lixenberg in context front cover Thomas J. Haas Ellen E. Adams, Ph.D. Cyril Lixenberg President Visiting Assistant Professor ca. 1970 Grand Valley State University Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies Photographer Unknown 2006 to present GVSU Lixenberg Archival 60 influence in Collection 06 introduction west michigan Shape inspired by Gayle R. Davis Vierkanteling II Jason Kalajainen Provost and Vice President for Executive Director Academic and Student Affairs back cover Civic and Arts Foundation of the Grand Valley State University Cyril Lixenberg Union League Club of Chicago 2013 12 ten visual thoughts Photo by Dana Lixenberg 67 related exhibitions Shape inspired by Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey Timothy J. Chester 69 GVSU exhibition art list Unless otherwise noted, Vierkanteling I Grand Valley State University Guest Curator all artwork in the publication Art Gallery Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey is in Grand Valley State 72 acknowledgements president’s letter 1 Campus Drive University’s Permanent Allendale, Michigan 49401 Henry A. Matthews Cyril Lixenberg Collection and is a gift of the ca. 1970 USA Lixenberg Family in memory Director of Galleries and Collections Photo by Mattheus Engel gvsu.edu/artgallery of Saskia Lixenberg. Grand Valley State University Copyright ©2013 GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection ISBN 978-0-9897683-0-6 Designed by Plenty. introduction inleiding
Grand Valley State University’s Art including drawings, monoprints, print De Kunstgalerie van Grand Valley State drukken, drukedities, kleine sculpturen Gallery is charged with collaborating editions, small sculptures and archival University legt zich toe op de samen- en archiefmateriaal over het begin van with faculty and staff to collect, preserve material spanning his early career as werking met de faculteiten en universi- zijn carrière als opkomende en voor zijn and display a diverse collection of art a struggling and evolving artist in the taire medewerkers voor het verzamelen, carrière vechtende kunstenaar in het that augments and strengthens inter- early 1950s to his current successful behouden, en tentoonstellen van een begin van de jaren vijftig,tot zijn succes- disciplinary learning. For decades, the presence in the contemporary art world. gevarieerde kunstcollectie, die zorgt volle rol in de hedendaagse kunstwereld. university’s facilities and grounds have Multiple exhibition venues across West voor een vergroting en versterking van Meerdere tentoonstellingslocaties in been graced by thousands of works of Michigan will simultaneously focus on het interdisciplinair onderwijs. Sinds West-Michigan zullen zich tegelijker- art that contribute to the “campus as particular aspects of Lixenberg’s art, tientallen jaren zijn de gebouwen en tijd richten op specifieke aspecten van gallery” atmosphere that enriches our including the Grand Rapids Art Museum, terreinen van de universiteit verrijkt door de kunstwerken van Lixenberg, waar- entire community. Calvin College’s Center Art Gallery, duizenden kunstwerken die bijdragen onder het Grand Rapids Arts Museum, the Muskegon Museum of Art and the aan een ‘campus als galerie’, waardoor Calvin College’s Center Art Gallery, The exhibition Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Saugatuck Center for the Arts. onze hele gemeenschap verrijkt wordt. het Muskegon Museum of Art en het Journey and this accompanying catalog Saugatuck Center for the Arts. have been organized by the Art Gallery During the commencement exercises De tentoonstelling Cyril Lixenberg: an to inaugurate this year’s Fall Arts that will be held in December of this year, Artist’s Journey en deze bijbehorende Tijdens de openingsactiviteiten in 6 Celebration. Both explore and cele- I will be privileged to confer an honorary catalogus zijn georganiseerd door de december van dit jaar heb ik het voor- 7 brate 81 years of the life and work of the doctoral degree upon Cyril Lixenberg in Kunstgalerie, ter inwijding van de Fall recht om een eredoctoraat te overhan- popular contemporary Dutch artist Cyril recognition of his extraordinary creative Arts Celebration van dit jaar. Beiden digen aan Cyril Lixenberg, als erkenning Lixenberg, whose monumental sculp- achievements as an artist, both in his onderzoeken en vieren de 81 jaar van voor zijn bijzondere creatieve prestaties ture and eye-popping, colorful screen native Netherlands as well as here in het leven en werk van de populaire als kunstenaar, zowel in zijn moederland prints are exhibited throughout GVSU’s West Michigan. hedendaagse Nederlandse kunstenaar Nederland als hier in West-Michigan. buildings and campuses. This exhibition Cyril Lixenberg, wiens monumentale is made possible by the artist’s recent gift In doing so, we celebrate his many sculpturen en in het oog springende, Hiermee vieren wij zijn vele bijdragen of his early work, which, when combined contributions to our university community kleurrijke zeefdrukken zijn tentoon- aan onze universiteitsgemeenschap with GVSU’s existing holdings of his in the last quarter century, both through gesteld in de gebouwen en campus- gedurende de afgelopen 25 jaar, zowel art, inspired and enabled the university his gifts of art, and also through his terreinen van GVSU. Deze tentoonstel- door zijn creatieve werk, als zijn werk in to organize this retrospective exhibition nurturing and mentoring of our students ling wordt mogelijk gemaakt door de het begeleiden van onze studenten met of his entire career. It will feature new with wisdom, humor and grace. recente schenking door de kunstenaar wijsheid, humor en stijl. gifts of paintings and works on paper, van zijn vroege werk, dat, samen met de bestaande collectie van GVSU van zijn werken, de universiteit inspireerde en in staat stelde om dit retrospectief Gayle R. Davis over zijn gehele carrière te organiseren. Gayle R. Davis Provost and Vice President for Hierin zijn nieuwe schenkingen van Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs schilderen en werken op papier te zien, Academic and Student Affairs Grand Valley State University waaronder tekeningen, monochroom- Grand Valley State University an art- ist’s Journ
ten visual thoughts
by timothy j. chester previous page
Cyril Lixenberg in his studio at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 171 Amsterdam, April 7, 1965 Photo by Anton Haakman GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection
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Installing solo exhibition De Bilt, the Netherlands, 2001 Photo by Ineke v.d. Dever GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection
01who is the artist, cyril lixenberg?
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It was a self-assigned question tackled by She passed the sculpture every day on The assignment was a brilliant one, Lixenberg was busy commuting between a young undergraduate student at Grand her way to and from class, but until now, designed to help train budding writers to West Michigan and Amsterdam with Valley State University about 10 years had given it little thought. It was simply slow down and really observe a subject, more frequency than usual in those ago. She had been given an assignment a signpost that marked the building and to draw it out in carefully considered days. At the request of GVSU’s Director by Professor of Writing and Poet-in- entrance—something to navigate around creative writing. In the end, the student of Galleries and Collections Henry Residence Patricia Clark to select one as you made your way in. Maddeningly, cleverly decided to make her frustrations Matthews, Cyril Lixenberg, along with his of the thousands of works of art that the bronze label provided her with little her subject. Her poem accosted the adult children Dana and Onno, made a are displayed throughout the university’s information other than the title, date, the sculpture and its maker with many decision to donate more than 300 of his campuses and, after studying it, use it as artist’s name, Cyril Lixenberg, and his direct questions, and, with her demands works of graphic art on paper in memory a basis for writing an original poem. Dutch nationality. A few other related unanswered, she filled in the silence with of the artist’s late wife, Saskia. The works of art—colorful silk-screen prints her own suppositions and speculations. collection chronicled the artist’s output of Her question became her subject by the same artist bearing the same Professor Clark was very pleased with the previous 40 years. An exhibition with following her selection of a monumental title—hung in frames in the hallway just the resulting poem’s creative energy and a title inspired by those years of creativity steel, abstract sculpture painted a brilliant inside the plaza entrance. She resigned composition, and she resolved to share entitled Cyril Lixenberg 4x10+ would be yellow entitled Amaranth. Completed herself to the necessity of confronting it with her friend Lixenberg on his next presented in the university’s Art Gallery in 2002, it was installed on its own the work and slowly developed her campus visit. in the fall of 2002, and within the year, plaza outside the entryway of Mackinac own interpretation. examples of Lixenberg’s work began Hall, one of her classroom buildings. to appear on walls throughout GVSU’s opposite page several campuses. In fact, there are art scene, with examples of his work few places where GVSU students are found in many public, corporate, and Amaranth not confronted by his iconic geometric private collections. Not only does his Painted Steel, 2002 abstractions. His art infuses campus life work represent an important collection 15' x 5' x 5' and it seems to many people to be both of a major Dutch artist working in the Photo by GVSU News at one and at home there. second half of the 20th century, it is and Information Services preserved here with sufficient depth and Ten years later, and again at Matthews’ breadth to allow students and scholars prodding, Lixenberg invited the Art to better understand the growth of a Gallery’s team into his Amsterdam studio particular artist over time in a way that to document some of his unsold early is very hard and rare to experience. work, created between 1950 and 1970. The Lixenberg gifts made over the last This prompted an additional gift of nearly decade are an extraordinary resource for 85 paintings, mixed media prints and both teaching and learning.” monoprints that accompanied previous donations of small models, sculptures, One year after having made the writing catalogs, posters and exhibition assignment, Dr. Clark was finally announcements amassed during his successful in connecting Lixenberg long career. Archival quality crates were with her budding poet, who was both constructed, and the gifts were carefully surprised and delighted to meet the packed for shipment back to Allendale, artist of her speculations. The artist, in Michigan. As a result, Grand Valley State his turn, delighted in her poetic demands 14 University now preserves the largest of his work, and the two drifted away to 15 collection of Lixenberg’s work any- listen to each other and converse about where, a fact that seems to fill the artist the possible meanings of his art. Upon with content. parting, he accepted her poem, and gifted her with a small signed giclée print Why Michigan? Grand Rapids and its from his Amaranth suite. In this small neighboring cities of Holland, Saugatuck way, the engagement of audience so and Muskegon have in fact been a second valued by the artist, and the opportunity home to Lixenberg since the mid-1980s, for authentic encounters and learning when a series of chance encounters first sought by both students and faculty alike, brought him to Muskegon for a one-man had its beginning. exhibition at the Muskegon Museum of Art. An essay in this catalog by the arts administrator Jason Kalajainen outlines the many ties that bind Lixenberg to West Michigan and which have made him a vital part of the regional art scene.
Henry Matthews is very pleased to have the collection as a learning resource for the university. “Born in London, Lixenberg has lived in the Netherlands for most of his life, where he continues to be a prolific contributor to the contemporary 1932 July 5, Cyril born in Stepney, East End of London, England, to Annie (Sussman) and Morris The seventh child of Annie (Sussman) temporary shelter behind our house. It Lixenberg, 7th of 12 children and Morris Lixenberg was born in was a hut made of corrugated iron, you London’s East End on July 5, 1932, know, and they were standard. We were 1939 and given the name Cyril along with the the largest family in the neighborhood, Age 7, Operation Pied Piper Hebrew name Shalom. The family lived in and so we had two of these in the garden. commences evacuating children a ghetto of Orthodox Ashkenazy Judaism Our biggest worry, the biggest disaster from London in keeping with their faith, and eked out in the war for us, was if we had to go a modest living as best they could in in there with Bubbe, our grandmother. 1940 those economically depressed years. “I Because if you had to go in the shelter Age 8, September think (my parents) had little expectations; with her, and, of course, we were fighting bombing of London they were too busy just surviving. I am not to, you had to sit and read the holy begins, continuing through May 1941 one of 12 kids and that was really a lot books whilst rocking and praying, and of work for my parents with a minimal that’s the last thing you wanted to income. They were very kind, very gentle do when you could be watching the people and they managed somehow—I searchlights and maybe see if some of the don’t ever remember being hungry. German planes were hit. Later in 1941, There were always the clothes that were the entire family was reunited in the town passed down from my older brothers to of Market Harborough, where we had a the younger ones, so that was part of house until the end of the war. And then living. Everybody helped each other, also we went back to London, to Hackney—a the neighbors,” Cyril remembers. “I was working-class area that I was proud of.” the seventh kid and I remember that just Cyril’s father hoped that one of his sons after the war someone asked me how would become a rabbi, so a religious 17 my parents coped with all these kids? education was pursued, but it was not, When the war had finished in 1945, I as Cyril puts it, “my cup of tea.” At age 02childhood and war went off to a jamboree, a Jewish youth 14 he was apprenticed to a gold and group camping event. I went on Friday silversmith named Fishberg, “learning my Black Lion Yard, East End, London morning (I wasn’t allowed to go Friday trade as a diamond mounter. I made the Etching and Aquatint on Paper, ca. 1951 1941 evening because of the Sabbath) and I rings for the stones. Then I discovered 15 5/8" x 11 1/4" Cyril goes with brother came back Sunday evening full of stories that I had the right to go to this art school to live with a family near of what had happened. My mother didn’t to learn my trade and the boss was very Market Harborough Cyril is seated in the darkened Meijer even know I was gone!” nice, great guy, and he supported it.” Regency Room of GVSU’s DeVos Center Lixenberg remembers several years of .A print produced by Cyril in school Family reunited in 1947 Begins to use Hebrew Market Harborough, in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, The bombing of London during World combining work with instruction at the survives from this period—an urban name of Shalom in England surrounded by lights and cameras, War II disrupted the continuity of London Central School of Arts & Crafts. street scene of Black Lion Yard in participating in the collection of his own Lixenberg’s childhood and education. At some point in his education, he drifted London’s East End that would have been place of “Cyril” 1945 oral history. On this bright September Like many English children, Cyril and from his craft-focused training into the familiar to Cyril in his youth. The 1951 1949 Cyril turns 13, VE Day day in 2012, Mary Isca Pirkola, of the a brother were evacuated from the school’s painting and graphic art studios, work was produced as an exercise in Left home at age 17 on May 8 marks end university’s News and Information dangers of London as part of Operation from which he never looked back. He copper plate printing, with elements of to attend Central School of WWII in Europe Services office, is interviewing him on Pied Piper, and sent away to live with remembers touring the National Gallery etching and aquatint. The composition of Arts & Crafts, London, videotape, in preparation for a Grand strangers. Cyril explains that, “London in London as part of his required art is a study in contrasts, with dramatic first in jewelry making, 1946 Valley Magazine article in advance of was heavily bombed by the Germans. history studies. It was there that an shadowing and use of light. It prefigures then painting Age 14 ½, Cyril the exhibition. Mary has taken Cyril back In 1941, the idea was to save the kids, encounter with a painting by the Dutch an ongoing preoccupation in Lixenberg’s apprenticed to Fishberg Jewelry, earning 1 pound to his roots, and with his usual sense of because we were on the East End that post impressionist painter Vincent Van work—a delight in exploring opposites, per week humor, he’s taking her on a rollicking ride was really being bombed—I remember Gogh changed everything and set Cyril’s of white and black, open and closed, down his memory lane. these bombs—and we were often in a determination to be an artist. both familiar and foreboding. 18 19
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Around the Table Self Portrait of the Artist Ink, Ink Wash, and Graphite on Paper, ca. 1956 Oil on Canvas, ca. 1960 8 1/2" x 7 1/4" 17 7/8" x 14 3/4" opposite page
Pages from the artist’s British passport, 1950–1965
the canvas03 really scared me
At age 21, after working and studying During this period of travel, Lixenberg for three years, Cyril recollects that concentrated on painting portraits and he “spent four years bumming Europe, landscapes. He spent a lot of time literally hitchhiking everywhere.” He sketching people from life as he saw even journeyed to Arles in the south them in cafés and on the street. In of France to paint the same bridge 1956 he attempted a period of formal that his hero Van Gogh had previously study at École des Beaux Arts in Paris, captured on canvas. “One of the good but he found the academic formalism things about coming from a poor family stifling, and he left to return to his is that you know they can’t help—they self education, alternating periods of would if they could, but they couldn’t. painting and working with travel. Israel 21 I found my own way. I worked at called to him in 1956, and so he sailed 1950 nighttime. I worked during the day. I there from France for a brief visit. Four First passport at 18; is an worked in factories. I disappeared summer months of 1957 were spent unsuccessful stowaway on for a couple of months just to work, in Torremolimos near Málaga, Spain, ship to Haifa via Marseilles and that was accepted. It was an producing some memorable portraits exciting period. I kept going back to that captured a new bright palette that 1953 Amsterdam. I just loved the city and it replaced the darker colors of his earlier Age 21, travels to the Netherlands and begins became my base. I got homesick not work. “At that time, I’m doing portraits, exploring Europe for London, but for Amsterdam.” His which I loved. I painted a portrait of my growing consciousness of his Jewish own wife when I met her the first time. 1956 heritage and identity was sparked by When I first went to Holland, I was Studies briefly at observing the ruins of World War II painting with oil paint on canvases. But École des Beaux Arts and the realities of the Holocaust. He I also had very little money, so I would in Paris beginning responded by using his Hebrew name, go to the flea market to buy supplies. February 9; visits Israel Shalom, in everyday life and to sign Once, I bought a huge theatre décor, a his work. theatre canvas in huge pieces. I cut it 1957 up, cleaned it up, and painted on it. But In Spain painting near Gibraltar for four months my thing is that I never complained that in summer I had no money. You just have to do whatever you have to do. I have painted 1958 drawings on cheap paper that has Worked on French Pavilion become so terrible and disintegrated, at Expo 58, the Brussels but I did the drawings anyway.” World’s Fair; again in Israel Reading Sepia Ink Wash on Paper ca. 1958 5 1/8" x 4 3/4"
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Two Men Seated Ink on Paper ca. 1958 10" x 12"
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After working on the construction crew you have no commissions. They don’t that completed the French Pavilion at tell you, ‘Do this now,’ a certain motif. I Expo 58, the Brussels World’s Fair, he was really a little nervous. The canvas used his wages to again visit Israel, really scared me. So I spent a period sketching quick and masterful studies doing a lot of drawings, which I loved. that capture the street and café life of In 1958 I was in Israel for one of my Jerusalem on scraps of paper and in a visits, and I would draw people sitting composition book that survives in the in the Arab cafés. My first genre was university’s archives. pretty much portraits. They were always expressionistic.” “In those days I was just busy painting,” recalls Lixenberg. “When I left school, I had what I call the ‘white canvas syndrome.’ You’re leaving the academy, opposite page
Model (Tineke) in the Artist’s Studio at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 171, Amsterdam, 1959 Photograph by Maria Austria GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection
His first years in Amsterdam are those of a young artist working feverishly to refine and develop his vision. Careful looking at his work from this period shows that 04developing an expressive vision he was studying works by the masters Van Gogh, Picasso and Modigliani. By his own admission, he was drawn to Lixenberg loved Amsterdam for its casual the work of other artists of the previous qualities and for the active art world that generation such as Jules Pascin he found there in the late 1950s. But he (1885–1930) whose brothel paintings was increasingly drawn to something charmed him as well as Chaim Soutine else—the attentions, the influences and (1893–1943) a French painter who, like his love for Saskia Thomas, whom he Lixenberg, came from eastern European would marry in 1964. Jewish origins. Lixenberg also admired the work of the German designer Max The art scene in Amsterdam was active Bill (1908–1994) and Lucio Fontana and vivid when Lixenberg arrived in 1958. (1899–1968), an Argentine artist of The postwar Cobra movement was on Italian descent who became well known 24 the wane as an active group of artists, for his slashed canvases that sought to but the effect of its tenets would have introduce spatial qualities to heretofore 1958 influence for many years. Taking its name flat paintings. Fontana, like many other Back to Amsterdam to from the home cities of its founders, artists of the postwar generation, found live—address/studio at Oudezijds Achterburghwal Cobra (or CoBrA) was an art movement it difficult to ignore the horrors of the 171 emanating from Copenhagen, Brussels, conflict only to return to the canons and Amsterdam that took its artistic cues of art that flourished in the past. From 1959 and license from the immediate qualities each and every one of these artists, First solo exhibition, held of drawings by children, and from Lixenberg saw and absorbed, noting at Galerie H. Larsen in the freedom from academic Western each expressive trend while moving Copenhagen forms that could be seen in so-called toward the development of his own “primitive art” as the term was used expressive vision. 1964 then. An opposing school of geometric Begins receiving state abstraction also reigned in Amsterdam, Lixenberg also developed his eye support “Contraprestatie” based in a resurgence of interest in the through active and even compulsive through Gemeentelijke Dienst voor Sociel 1920s constructivist art of de Stijl. While collecting. When he first found a studio Zaher and Plaatslijke Lixenberg would eventually be drawn to on the edge of Amsterdam’s Red Light Commissie voor Sociel this latter school as his artistic vision district at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 171, Kunstopdrachten developed, he still resists being defined he began to collect prints and graphic as indicative of any particular style. For art portfolios, both by trading art with May 13, marries Saskia a time, his work looked to the Fauves, his contemporaries and also buying at Henriette Maria Thomas while the expressive brush of the Cobra auctions. Soon, this was followed by Daughter, Dana, born artists also inspired his quick gestural acquisitions of African and Polynesian September 15 images of the 1960s. tribal art, with which he surrounds opposite page himself to this day. Grand Valley State I was very grateful for it. I used that for University was the beneficiary of this about four years until I could make my View of the Zuiderkerk, collecting impulse when the Brooks own way and I began to get commissions, Amsterdam family of Holland underwrote the but that was the first time I could really Oil on Canvas, ca. 1964 purchase of nearly 500 works on paper buy good materials, canvases. You’ll see 20 3/4" x 17 3/8" by contemporary Dutch artists that were the difference in my work over that time. housed in Lixenberg’s studio. Someone once asked me, ‘Why is it you’ve suddenly got red on the canvas?’ “My first one-man exhibition was in Well, I had money to buy red, and red 1959 in Copenhagen, I’ll never forget is more expensive than black or white. it,” remembers Cyril. “I went on a train That’s not a reason to make art, I know, with bundles of canvases, incredible. I know. When you have no money you have to find another way. That was in 1959 at “When I did start earning money is when I the Henning Larsen Gallery in Bredgade, started getting commissions. One of my opposite the ferry. But then I did sell my first commissions was for a wijkcentrum, art to the embassy, I sold a lot of paintings a community center in Geuzenweld, a here, a couple of paintings there.” neighborhood of Amsterdam. I did two big canvases, pretty much my last canvases. His early exhibited work took the form Then I got into the silk-screen prints, and of landscapes, amidst occasional I got a commission for a silk- screen print portraits and nude studies. “I just love for a social workplace for big prints, huge, 26 the landscape,” says Lixenberg, “even large-size prints, large-size graphics. I 27 when I was going toward abstraction. had periods where in some years I had It’s a very Dutch influence—the huge sky like four or five commissions, so I began and the horizon—I’ve done a fair amount to earn well, which was very pleasing.” of those paintings. In some of my first graphic prints, there was a horizon, a By 1972 Cyril and his family were settled line and the sky. That continues to very into a 17th century canal house he would much be some inspiration which I use—a later purchase and restore. Life was more constant theme in my background.” stable, and he was morphing from an Englishman into a Dutchman. He recalls, Lixenberg recalls that his work and his “In the old days people used to ask me lifestyle slowly became more stable what language I dreamed in when I first financially. “Slowly but surely, I found moved to the Netherlands and I spoke support through grants. There was one the language. I think very much it was from De Swann Foundation, and then English then, but now I’m convinced later a Ministry of Culture grant from the it’s Dutch. Absolutely convinced. I don’t Prins Bernhard Fonds. It wasn’t much, think in English anymore.” like 200 guilders, I don’t know, 150 a month. But I could do things with that. I began to have to buy materials and later I got into a Dutch system which supported artists. In those days it was called ‘Contraprestatie’ and it hasn’t existed now for 50 years—it’s gone. Increasingly, Cyril Lixenberg found it harder to paint benign subjects like landscapes. His growing understanding of what the war of his youth entailed and its cost to the Jewish people troubled him. It occupied his mind and eventually his painting.
“I had a whole period when I had my expression through landscape. But there was an aggressiveness coming into anger,05 emotion, then clarity them; in the sky there were birds coming down, and the birds became very violent. One of my themes came from the stories I liked as a kid, especially the Golem, the monster of clay that the Jews (of Prague) This was a time of great transition in 1966 made to defend themselves. I liked that Lixenberg’s work. He was increasingly A 1964 mixed media story, so in some of my work I have the frustrated by what he called the painting by Lixenberg Golem striding through the landscape, “muddiness” of his paintings, both visually in the collection of the Netherlands Trade Union attacking. There’s a certain amount of and in terms of their content. He sought is published aggressiveness in my work from this time. greater clarity, and he found it initially by making monoprints, and then eventually 1968 “It’s never something that you consciously in hard-edged silk-screen prints. This Short art films “Portrait know you are working through—it had transition was mirrored by a shift from of the Artist” and “The something very much to do with the war. gestural abstract expressionism, to a Artist’s Struggle” made I hardly ever speak about it because it pure form of geometric abstraction, of and by Cyril working sounds like exaggerated emotions. You made unique by consistently playing with photographer Anton Haarkman using name know, what have I got to do with the war? and experimenting with contrasting Liryc Grebnexil But it was part of the background of life, opposites. His monoprints were made and maybe that’s part of what an artist on aluminum and zinc plates, using Possible date for Lixenberg can do. My anger merged with Vietnam, etching inks, waxes and acids, and then graphic art poster for the Holocaust. I discovered these empty running the image through a printer’s MacArthur Park hit houses in the area of my studio in mangle, transferring the image onto a single release Amsterdam. The Judenbreestraat, literally single sheet of etching paper. Eddie Adams AP photo of ‘Jewish Wide Street’ is what it’s called, Vietcong prisoner executed and there was nobody left there after the These one-of-a-kind monoprints led to inspires Vietnam painting war! Holland lost, percentage-wise, the experimentation through the addition most Jews of all of Europe. So with all of cut-out stencils into the mix. In of the talk about how Holland helped the 1968, one of these monoprints was Jews—it did after the war, but … Anyway, used by INELCO for its artwork on a so that’s part of my anger, and it’s got release poster for the hit RCA single its own emotional energy. Then once MacArthur Park, written by Jimmy Webb you start painting—I don’t paint just one, and performed by Richard Harris. Cyril opposite page I’m not an illustrator in that sense—so Lixenberg had arrived! He returned to you paint a series, a period in your life, the regular use of his given name to sign Vietnam and you’re not aware that you’re going his work, and began producing his first Oil on Canvas, ca. 1968 through it, you just do it.” geometric abstract silk-screen prints. 55 1/8" x 43 1/2" 30 31
MacArthur Park Golem Offset Lithograph, ca. 1968 Oil on Canvas, ca. 1965 11" x 15" 43 1/4" x 35 1/2" GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection 1969 opposite page First American exhibition at Kravetz Gallery, Untitled Abstraction Rochester, NY Mixed Media Print on Paper, ca. 1968 25 5/8" x 19 10/16" 1970 Stops signing work as “Shalom” and returns to “Cyril”
The 1970s proved to be a period of extraordinary productivity for Lixenberg. Commissions for art in new buildings were obtained that built upon his previous experience collaborating with architects. Lixenberg’s designs began to become very architectural in nature, produced in structural steel, poured concrete and even in earthworks that manipulated the 06collaboration and exhibitions landscape. It was from these creative encounters that Lixenberg’s graphic work began to translate into both small scale and monumental sculpture that 1970 embraced new materials like plexiglas, 33 Participates in the stainless steel and COR-TEN steel. He 50x50 project: 50 artists Lixenberg had a huge break when he developed a practice of both painting exhibiting their prints in 50 cities in honor of the received a commission for an employee his steel sculptures black, yellow and Queen Mother Juliana canteen at the new Schiphol airport blue, but also allowing them to develop in Amsterdam in 1971. He recalls, “I a protective and highly colorful and rich 1971 had a commission from the Ministry of coating of rust. Commission for Schiphol Civil Aviation and that was where they Airport, Amsterdam controlled the air traffic, a big tower. Important exhibitions ensued that were For me, it was one of the biggest not only accompanied by illustrated 1972 commissions that I had, and there was catalogs, but which traveled to multiple Son, Onno, born July 14 really a lot of money available. I had cities and museums in the Netherlands. to take a risk because I had to work 1977 saw Lixenberg exhibiting in 1977 Traveling exhibitions in alongside the architect, with whom I Franeker and Haarlem, and in 1980, Franeker and Haarlem got along very well. I hadn’t yet got the his work was seen in Venlo, Almere commission; it wasn’t OK’d yet, so he and Apeldoorn. A beautifully produced, 1980 was saying ‘Cyril, if you start working hardbound text simply entitled Lixenberg Traveling exhibition in now you’ll have to do it. If you don’t get was produced in 1988 with a foreward Venlo, Almere, and the commission you’re going to lose out.’ by Renée Waale, Curator of Amsterdam’s Apeldoorn I said, ‘Well, that’s my risk.’ I had to make influential Jewish Historical Museum and a lot of drawings of my designs, which with an influential and comprehensive were to be integrated into the building essay by art historian Frans Duister and on certain walls, and in the canteen’s photographs by Jan Snoek and Cyril’s floor. I did that and I got the commission!” daughter, Dana Lixenberg. 1983 In NYC with wife, Saskia; invited to lecture in Ann Arbor, Michigan
1984 One-man exhibition at University of Michigan GVSU’s Director of Galleries and Museum of Art Collections Henry Matthews remembers that he first met Cyril Lixenberg when the artist was installing a solo exhibition of his own small-scale sculptures, enameled metal plates and related colorful prints in Ann Arbor. “That 1984 show at the University of Michigan Museum of Art impressed me with its expressive range and depth reached with a limited visual vocabulary, consisting almost exclusively of basic geometric shapes: circles, squares and triangles,” Matthews recalls. the commission07 of a lifetime Lixenberg recounts his process for creating his sculptures. “For every major monumental sculpture I make a model. I really always want a scale model. I had Two extraordinary events took shape 34 this nice exhibition in Holland, Michigan, slowly through the 1980s and 1990s 35 in 2003 at the Holland Area Arts that added an environmental dimension Council on 8th Street called Leading to to Lixenberg’s art. He continued his trend Monumental Sculpture that explored this of breaking out of museum galleries 1985 process. Literally, I crumpled paper up, and into outdoor public spaces with an Meets Henry Matthews and then tore up paper in the way I work, installation project presented as part of and then I made sketches, and finally I an exhibition entitled Symbols and Forms 1987 made a model—a small model of what held in Breda in 1983. The art historian Famous dijk/ landschapproject on I want—and that was very important Frans Duister describes the work as Kettelmeer Dike, for the steel firms that I work with to .“three steel objects, placed in the central Dronten, Flevoland fabricate sculpture. They know more or verge of the road leading into the centre
less what I want. And that’s how it still of Breda. They were placed in line with 1988 works. Often, I make small multiples in some distance between them. Together, One-man exhibition at addition to these models and I love doing they embodied Lixenberg’s approach Muskegon Museum of Art that. And what I often make large of to three-dimensional art. A square, a COR-TEN steel, or rusting iron—for the circle and a triangle, which, viewed 1991 small sizes I like it in stainless steel—a from the passing cars, were moving in a Purchases 17th century more aesthetic material.” relationship to each other depending on canal house at Leliegracht the speed of the cars, and so continually 24, Amsterdam resulting in a different combination.” The opposite page three sculptures, Duister observed, 1998 Produces outdoor Artist in studio with daughter, Dana, 1969 supported Lixenberg’s contention “that a exhibition of 26 sculptures Photograph by Dolf Toussaint great deal can be achieved using only the for town of Dronten, GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection most simple shapes as a starting point.” Flevoland Zuil C and Zuil D Dronten 25+1 Project Painted Steel, 1997 8' x 15 3/4" x 9 1/2"
opposite page
From the exhibition Symbols and Forms Breda, 1983 Photographer Unknown GVSU Lixenberg Archival Collection
In 1987, this same series went on to be installed in a Beelden op de dijk/ Sculpture on the dike project alongside the road atop the Ketelmeer Dike in Dronten, in the province of Flevoland, 36 where they remain highly regarded 37 as one of Lixenberg’s most iconic sculptural installations.
The success of this project led to another extraordinary undertaking, also in Dronten, that culminated with the creation over 10 years of 26 sculptures placed in and around the relatively new town. Flevoland is literally a “new land”—a polder slowly reclaimed from what was once the Zuiderzee and then platted for settlement. Working with architects and urban planners when the town was only 25 years old, and still sparsely settled, Lixenberg populated the avenues, squares and traffic rotaries of the new town with his The inauguration of Kijken met Lixenberg/ sculptural visions based on his “cultural Looking with Lixenberg took place in policy of the capricious,” as he referred September 1998, accompanied by to it. The resulting permanent open-air another comprehensive art publication, exhibition of his work also functioned as Cyril Lixenberg 25+1, Grafiek, Sculptuur, a sort of gallery, exposing his designs to Multiples. It was, as Lixenberg noted, thousands of prospective clients. .“the commission of a lifetime!” opposite page
Cyril during the fabrication of Steel Water at Leitelt Iron Works in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007 Photo by Brian Kelly Photography
“The first story I heard about the opportunity is that three artists were to be selected to make a proposal and it was to commemorate that Grand Rapids was the first city in the world to add fluoride to its water. In Grand Rapids 08experiments in light and environment they did it in 1945. We think we’re very advanced in the Netherlands and we only did it in the ’60s. In the old days, kids would be leaving secondary school with false teeth. Suddenly there was fluoride, which literally saved the kids’ teeth. The idea was that they wanted the sculpture to have nothing to do directly 38 with dentistry, just to commemorate that date, that innovation. They didn’t Amaranth, created in 2002 for a want a rotten tooth hanging. That’s why new addition to Grand Valley State I think the JW Marriott Hotel joined in University’s Mackinac Hall, reflects a sponsoring this project because they subtle shift that occurred in Lixenberg’s didn’t want to end up with a rotten tooth work as the 21st century dawned. His next to their wonderful hotel. That was an strict use of geometric forms was exciting project. 1999 never rigid or dogmatic, but his new Ontmoeting commissioned by Holland Hospital, work began to include natural, organic “I’ll never forget the day we had to submit Holland, Michigan and even sinuous lines that pushed our designs, we also had to talk about his exploration of polar opposites in our designs to a public audience. I 2000 new, more emotional directions. The remember I was warned by friends to Wife Saskia dies of cancer shimmering visual subtleties that change not make any dentist jokes. I managed to with each passing hour of daylight, as control myself until after our formalities. A 2002 seen in his 2007 work Steel Water, facet of my work is that I love to relate to Donates his graphic signal new experiments with both light a commission in my own way. For me, the work to GVSU, produces and the environment of his works. idea of Steel Water, and of dentistry and sculpture Amaranth oral health, is very much based on water. for GVSU “Steel Water in 2007 was a major And the site was by the river, the Grand commission,” recounts Lixenberg, telling the River, and that’s a wonderful situation to 2007 Steel Water dedicated story of this monumental sculpture which be given to be creative with. The river September in downtown marks the Grand Rapids riverfront with was literally the inspiration to make this Grand Rapids, Michigan distinction in the heart of its downtown. Steel Water. Magela-S was made for ArtPrize 2010 opposite page and was exhibited on the grounds of the Fulton Street side of GVSU’s Pew Magela–S Campus in downtown Grand Rapids. COR-TEN Steel, 2010 Lixenberg was pleased that he was able 211" x 96" to convince the steel firms with which His plan was foiled by the Persian he had worked on other commissions queen, Esther, who was Jewish, and by in Grand Rapids and elsewhere in West her uncle, Mordecai. In addition to the Michigan to sponsor it. He explains, “It reading of the story of Queen Esther was all sponsored. It was a lot of work for in synagogues, the holiday is further everybody, but I enjoyed it. It was a great celebrated by feasting, exchanging gifts opportunity to make one large sculpture of food with friends and by giving alms I think six meters high to the memory of to the poor. my wife, Saskia, who died in 2000. It’s called Magela-S and it’s based on the Cyril explains the deep meaning the classic story that’s thousands of years sculpture holds for him: “Although I’d old of when Queen Esther saved the created memorial sculptures previously, Jewish people.” I was unable to do so when my wife, Saskia, died 10 years ago—it was too The sculpture’s form, that of two vertical close to me then. But a few years ago, tablet or scroll forms, has its basis in the whilst working on new work for an biblical story of Queen Esther, which is exhibition, I got the inspiration to finally 40 traditionally recorded in scroll form and create a tribute to my wife. Magela 41 read in synagogues in early spring on the (sometimes spelled megillah) is a Yiddish Jewish holiday of Purim. The story is often and Hebrew word that also indicates a read from illuminated scrolls that have long, detailed story or account. meaning when read both horizontally and vertically. The Jewish holiday of “Although in a literal sense, this two-part Purim commemorates the deliverance of sculpture is unreadable in its detail, it is the Jewish citizens of Persia from their nevertheless my story of and for Saskia, annihilation as plotted by the king’s vizier, both vertically and horizontally. It is 2010 Haman, in the fifth century BCE. an abstract text. Nobody can read it, I Participates in ArtPrize, can’t read it. Megillah literally in Hebrew produces Magela-S means story, but S stands not for Esther, in memory of late wife, Saskia but for Saskia. So it’s like a combination organic surprises of actual history and my history. 2012 Throughout my career as an artist, I’ve Invited to design a sometimes used biblical names for my proposed monument titles, because I was brought up with the for visitor center for the Old Testament.” UNESCO Heritage Site Defense Line of Amsterdam (1874–1963) (Stelling van Amsterdam)
Donates early paintings, prints, drawings and 09 archives to GVSU Magela–S Silkscreen, 2007 27 1/2" x 19 3/4"
Magela–S Silkscreen, 2007 27 1/2" x 19 3/4"
opposite page
Artist with sculpture, Magela–S, 2012
Photo by GVSU News and Information Services
42 43
Henry Matthews wrote in 2010 that, Noting the new directions of Lixenberg’s “Lixenberg has continued to develop recent work, Matthews observed, “His a visually expressive and emotional new and innovative geometric point and language within his geometric counterpoint work infused with a playful constraints with remarkable range organic quality has recently grown in and subtlety. This artist/communicator exposure through a series of exhibitions is always articulate and precise. and group shows throughout Europe Surprisingly, his unique oeuvre is and the United States. These new embedded with a gentle, humanizing creations are eagerly anticipated by all sense of humor. Cold and academic in who have been touched by this prolific, lesser hands, primary geometric forms tireless artist.” become highly expressive with Lixenberg. His recent work continues to extract That exposure has increased dramatically organic surprises as can be seen in his in recent years as Lixenberg has exhibited recent monumental sculpture in Grand in places like Naples, southern France, Rapids, Michigan, entitled Steel Water. Germany and in the Netherlands, The impeccable craftsman in this artist The Hague. In 2010, he was invited insists on the highest standards of his to exhibit in a group show entitled art, always remaining in complete control Monumental and Intimate Art at the over the smallest detail. The remarkable MADI Museum of Geometric and MADI resulting works of art are embedded with Art in Dallas, Texas, from October 8, a seemingly effortless visual control.” 2010, through January 2, 2011. opposite page
Formed Landscape Mixed Media on Paper, ca. 1961 8 3/4" x 12 1/2"
Lixenberg’s 2013 concept for a monumental sculpture project for River Avenue in Holland, Michigan has its roots in the design ideas of this work on paper executed in 1961.
I still like the idea of making new work. Of course, it’s different than in the old days. I don’t lift and carry the work myself anymore. I work with firms. So, I sit there in the steel firm while I’m making it and 10i’ve never been 80 before … I’m normally there for every bend, like when Steel Water was being fabricated. I remember that in Holland, Michigan, once, I was working on a big steel commission, and someone, one of the workers, Lixenberg is curiously energized and remarked to me while I was sitting there engaged by the planning and organizing of saying, ‘Now I think you have to bend the exhibition Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s it a little more.’ He said, .‘Mr. Lixenberg, Journey. It has involved a disruption of have you ever actually worked?’ I said, his Amsterdam home, attic and studio for ‘Yeah, three years ago on a Wednesday 44 almost 20 months. He explains that, “It’s afternoon, I really worked like mad.’ So, I 45 an exciting project. The university was do work. interested in making a retrospective of my work, including my older work. What “From here on out? That’s a wonderful I was surprised about is that I saved so question. I have no answer, but I hope I many of these old paintings and these remain capable. You know, I have this new works on paper, which I haven’t seen for commission now in Holland, Michigan. so many years, and I became very excited. And I was also approached in the That was the beginning of my relationship Netherlands for a huge commission for a to this project. So I made the decision to sculpture connected with the Stelling van donate many of the older works to add Amsterdam, a UNESCO World Heritage to the existing collection. It’s great that Site that is the old defense fortifications Grand Valley State University would have that ring the city. I eventually got it, but the largest collection of my work ever, they have to get funds raised first. so of course I like it, and I like that it will In America it’s much more normal to do be used.” that, but in the Netherlands it’s a little 2013 more complicated. River Avenue monumental Lixenberg is approaching 81 years of age sculpture design selected as the final stages of exhibition planning “I don’t want to say, ‘Oh yes, my work is for City of Holland, Michigan and preparation are under way. When changing just because I’m getting older.’ asked how his work is changing at this I don’t know what the consequences are December 7, Cyril is stage of life, he seems puzzled by the of getting older. awarded Doctor of Human Letters degree honoris question. “Well, what I mean is I still have causa by Grand Valley got work which I’m pleased with and I “I’ve never been 80 before. It’s a one-time State University still like to participate in exhibitions and thing,” he observes with a huge grin. art move ments opposite page
Karel Appel Two Heads (Deux Têtes) Oil on Canvas, 1953 78 3/4" × 29 1/2" (200 x 75 cm)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 53.1363 lixenberg in context by ellen e. adams, ph.d.
Examining Cyril Lixenberg’s oeuvre is to teach in an incredibly classical way. like browsing through a modern-art What good does it do to forever draw collection. His career arc closely tracks from plaster casts? We were wasting our consecutive postwar modernist styles time drawing incredibly boring Greek or and moves through gestural abstrac- Roman plaster casts.” It might seem that, tion and figural painting—spurred on by rejecting the Academy, artists simply by movements such as Cobra and Art opted for an alternate means of learning. Informel—geometric abstraction, and What they ultimately challenged, finally monumental public art. While however, was the entire Western tradi- 48 Amsterdam has been his home for 50 tion of art. Academic artistic training 49 years, it also served as the home base dates to the Middle Ages when craft from which the young itinerant artist, a guilds gained prominence. Renaissance self-proclaimed “hitchhiker,” explored sculptors, painters and architects honed Europe. Wide-ranging in his interests, their physical skills and developed their subjects and style, Lixenberg’s artistic humanist minds (understood at the time and intellectual education combined as separate endeavors) in Florentine formal and informal training, a healthy and Roman academies. The French dose of museum study and a very Académie royale de Peinture et de curious eye. Sculpture, established during the reign of Louis XIV, presented a new model Artists of Lixenberg’s era customarily for artistic development that brought pursued at least some formal instruc- all aspects of art-making under central- tion in European art academies. And ized control. The Academy codified many of them, like Lixenberg, found the hierarchy of genres (historical and the atmosphere suffocating. Corneille, sacramental subjects reigned supreme), a founding member of Cobra, recalled emphasized convention over experimen- young artists’ attitudes toward academic tation, and turned to nature as a means preparation: “When they try to impose to the ideal. While much had changed a certain type of education on you in the 20th century, most notably the and … you turn it down, that sharpens inclusion of female artists, the reliance your character, you take a stand as an on convention and a strict adherence to individual. To act against the established drawing from nature remained. rules. In the Academy they continued
previous spread From the Impressionists to the Cobra published its own journal (Cobra, Surrealists, generations of artists 10 issues); produced statements and Cyril Lixenberg already rejected academic ideals manifestos; and organized collective Cave Painting and principles, but the assault on events, such as exhibitions, group meet- Oil on Canvas, 1961 classical aesthetics seen in the aftermath ings and seminars. Also akin to earlier 24 3/4" × 15 3/4" of World War II involved what art histo- avant-garde groups, Cobra counted rian Hal Foster has termed a “calculated artists, poets and writers among its deskilling of the tableau,” a conscious members, who often collaborated on opposite page and in some cases brutal disorderliness. books and works of art. Ideas prolifer- Karel Appel’s Two Heads demonstrates ated widely, and the influence of Cobra Hans Hartung this disruptive painterly style. Here, Appel lingered far beyond the three years of its T. 1956-14 applies pigment in the willfully childlike organized activities. Oil on Canvas, 1956 70 7/8" × 53 1/2" and coarse manner embraced by Cobra and displays his interest in a crude form Amsterdam’s modern and contempo- The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France of tribal art. The experimental nature rary art museum, the Stedelijk, show- National Museum of of Cobra, with its seemingly sponta- cased Cobra in a major exhibition in Modern Art/Industrial neous and expressionistic facture and 1949 and amassed a large collection of Design Centre varied sources, was embraced by a Cobra art, which ensured that its effects AM 1977–550 wide-ranging group of artists who for remained palpable. The museum’s hold- three short years worked to oppose, in ings blossomed during the late 1940s the words of its founding manifesto, “all and 1950s after the lean years of the sterile and dogmatic theories.” Academic war to include German Expressionism, 52 painting became anathema, as did de Stijl, Russian Constructivism and 53 the artists’ reliance purely on Western contemporary Dutch art. The Stedelijk sources for inspiration. thus provided an institutional context for the flourishing artistic community in Like Lixenberg, the artists associated Amsterdam that welcomed Lixenberg in with Cobra were internationalist in 1958. Led by the pioneering designer background and outlook. Born in Paris Willem Sandberg, the museum allowed in 1948, Cobra nonetheless rejected artists working in the Netherlands to the strictures of the French capital in experience global trends in art first- favor of viewpoints and models drawn hand. Sandberg envisioned a museum from the histories and home cities of its that played a key role in the cultural and members: Copenhagen (Carl-Henning intellectual life of the city, and with the Pedersen and Asger Jorn, members addition of the “New Wing” in 1954, of the Danish Experimental Group); the institution offered the Dutch capital Brussels (the Centre Surréaliste révo- an open, democratic and interactive lutionnaire de Belgique, which included site. The director also organized inter- Christian Dotremont and Joseph Noiret); national exhibitions during his tenure, and Amsterdam (Appel, Constant, including the Cobra show, a survey of and Corneille, who comprised the de Stijl (1951) and “Bauen und Formen Dutch Experimental Group). Intensely in Holland, 1920 bis Heute,” a highly collective, activist, and ultimately ephem- didactic exhibition that examined the eral, the group profoundly impacted complex interplay between Dutch archi- the postwar avant-garde. Following tecture and design (1958). the example of interwar artist groups, Max Bill By exhibiting the more expressionistic of conflict colored postwar art created Unit of Three Elements Cobra works as well as rational, mathe- throughout Europe, from Englishman Granite, 1965 matical architectural design and de Stijl, Francis Bacon’s silently screaming 31" × 51 1/2"× 38"
the Stedelijk participated in the postwar visages to Georg Baselitz’s distorted Photo by Ralph Lieberman debates on artistic form that permeated figures in Germany to the violently Storm King Art Center, a range of European art centers. Across slashed canvases of the Italian Lucio Mountainville, New York the continent, both abstract and figura- Fontana. Such artists found in expres- tive artists employed expressionist visual sionism a potent language to commu- vocabularies that refer back to early nicate not specific events but rather to twentieth century modes. Movements respond to the brutal conditions of the such as Art Brut, with its rough treat- time. With a comparable fervor, Lixenberg ment of materials, and Art Informel, again turned to expressionist facture to which employed an almost calligraphic work through the mind-numbing violence application of paint, demonstrated vari- later wrought in Vietnam. ations of these styles. T. 1956–14, by Hans Hartung, a German-born artist At the same time that postwar expres- working in France, exemplifies the sionists were transmitting abstract and expressive qualities of Art Informel. Thin energetic marks onto canvas, hard- layers of opaque black paint, applied edged, geometric methods descended over a pale blue background, congre- from Russian Constructivism and de gate at the center of the canvas. The Stijl also enjoyed a renewed vigor. gestural lines seem like simple ink marks Artists from the interwar period such as 54 writ large, and indeed in his works of Piet Mondrian, Vasily Kandinsky, Jean 55 the ’50s, the artist translated smaller- Arp and Antoine Pevsner influenced size, spontaneous pen-and-ink draw- the geometric tendencies of postwar ings into grander paintings. abstraction, like those promoted by Art Concret (“Concrete Art”), which The use of expressionist facture resulted had its roots in the 1930s. Based on a from more than just formal artistic needs. Constructivist utopian ideal, Art Concret Larger historical exigencies also shaped narrowly defined abstract art as non figu- the life and art of painters and sculp- rative, that is, art that emanates from the tors returning to their craft after the war. mind of the creator, rather than evolving Lixenberg settled in the Netherlands just from natural forms. Art Concret had its as that nation was starting to come to champion in Swiss designer and theo- Lixenberg’s embrace of a harder-edged, sculpture (the humanist call to beau- terms with its contribution to the plight of rist Max Bill who broadcast his ideas in a geometric approach that produced both tify public spaces partially explains its Jewish citizens during World War II, a review—Abstrakt/Konkret, which ran for two-dimensional and larger-scale three- Michelangelo’s David, which has domi- reckoning that would gain acute traction 12 issues in the mid-1940s—and orga- dimensional works coincided roughly nated one of the most important squares in Europe during the Israeli and German nized exhibitions including “Concrete Art: with his winning public art commissions in Florence since its completion) and trials of the early ’60s, most prominently 50 Years of Development,” held in Zurich from Dutch municipalities. His public painting (the former Soviet Union often that of Adolf Eichmann. Lixenberg’s own in 1960, which proved key in estab- works of art, mostly sculpture, contrib- commissioned murals for the sides Jewish heritage, coupled with visits to lishing Art Concret as an international uted to a long-standing practice. Art has of buildings, which both employed Israel in 1956 and 1958, contributed to style. Bill’s works, which encompassed occupied the civic domain since ancient artists and communicated Socialist an awareness (called a “pain of knowl- print graphics, industrial and small-scale Egypt and spans the entirety of genres. ideals). Twentieth century capitalist edge” elsewhere) that the artist ultimately product design, and freestanding sculp- Public funds historically enriched archi- societies also invested in art for public addressed through artistic expression. ture, adhered to Art Concret principles. tecture (think of Pericles raiding Delian spaces, from the Depression-era Works This overarching grief and consciousness League funds to construct the Acropolis), Progress Administration, the General opposite page Services Administration and the National Modern public sculpture can be a tricky Endowment for the Arts in the United venture, since rarely does a work of art Cyril Lixenberg States to percent-for-art projects in cities find universal consensus and approval. Concept for and countries throughout the world. For In some public art cases, debates over Monumental example, France and Germany mandate public taste and artistic integrity have Sculpture Project that government building projects assign resulted in the removal of works of art COR-TEN Steel 2013, 35’ one percent of their budget for public (Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc being the City of Holland, art; such programs also exist in some most notorious example). Challenging Michigan U.S. localities. The Netherlands, where but thoughtful art, however, can play an Lixenberg created his first public sculp- important civic role. As philosopher Hilde tures, has been particularly progres- Hein has argued, “[a]rtists, despite their sive on this front, with public funding in professed asocial status, are as deeply place for art since the late 19th century. engaged in the public sphere as those More recently, outlays for public art often whose civic function is ordained by involve a combination of public funds definition … Sometimes and somehow with private support or the generosity of they break through ordinary expectation a single, private benefactor. and cause people to venture upon new perspectives. This is not because they Cyril Lixenberg’s contribution to public have made an orbital leap from private art in the United States includes several to public, but because their insightful sculpture projects in West Michigan, expression ignites response.” The best most notably Grand Rapids’ Steel public art thus serves a number of related 56 Water, dedicated in 2007, and his current functions: It effectively enhances the 57 commission in Holland. His work adds an physical community while at the same international element to a rich tradition of time it draws members of that commu- American public art that has taken on a nity into intelligent dialogue and debate. variety of forms. Monuments and memo- rials comprise a large portion of art in the Cyril Lixenberg’s own work reveals years public sphere, dotting town squares as of perceptive artistic conversations, well as national outdoor stages. The style ecumenical collecting and intense obser- of these works varies nearly as much as vation. Historical circumstances and the the sites, from representational sculpture history of art each play important roles in (for example, Ed Dwight’s monument to the twists and turns of Lixenberg’s career, Rosa Parks in Grand Rapids, dedicated but neither can completely explain his in 2010) to abstract (such as Maya artistic choices. Ultimately, the artist’s Lin’s groundbreaking Vietnam Veterans vision, flexibility and deeply felt interest Memorial inaugurated in 1982 on the in the world and people around him enact Mall in Washington, D.C.). Sculpture a profound effect on the painting and may be installed in public after the archi- sculpture that come out of his studio. tecture and space have been deter- mined, like Alexander Calder’s La grande vitesse, one of Grand Rapids’ most well- known symbols of civic pride, or it may be site-specific, in which case the artist assesses the surrounding space and creates a work of art that becomes an integral part of that site. west michi- gan influence in west michigan by jason kalajainen
Shortly after moving to West Michigan traveled in order to expand his under- 13 years ago to lead the Holland Area standing of the world and its people. Arts Council, I found myself invited to Upon his first visit to Amsterdam, he was a barrage of dinner parties and social enamored, first by the city and its canals, events throughout the region. Strangely, and then by Saskia Thomas, the woman from the start, I vividly remember being who would become his wife. Saskia asked whether I knew the Dutch artist taught Cyril to speak Dutch when they Cyril Lixenberg. His name was mentioned connected and, based upon the way a good deal in the midst of conversation. his face lights up when he talks about 60 Had my art professors and exploration her, it’s probably a safe guess that he of the art world failed me? Who was learned a great many other good things Cyril Lixenberg, and how had he created from her as well. such a presence and garnered such a fan base six thousand miles from his Cyril and Saskia would have two home city of Amsterdam? Fortunately, it children—a daughter, Dana, and a would not take long for me to meet him son, Onno. While their daughter was and understand the infectious nature of working as an au pair in New York City, his personality. the Lixenbergs visited her there in 1983 and Cyril began to build a network of Soon after meeting Cyril, one is struck American admirers. One of the first by his openness to new people, ideas opportunities stemming from these and exploration. If a door opens, he is contacts was a speaking engagement likely to peek around the corner and then at the University of Michigan Museum walk through it enthusiastically. Raised of Art that same year. Cyril’s initial in an orthodox Jewish family in London, connection with West Michigan was England, Cyril stepped out of the box really one of coincidence that began 30 from the onset and was driven to pursue years ago based on that initial lecture. the arts. Erratic school attendance He was invited to return the following during the World War II years made his year by then-Director Evan Maurer to education chaotic and disjointed. He exhibit his work at UMMA. During his remarks that his real education began visits to Ann Arbor he made a variety when he left school. He headed to the of connections, including meeting Jack library and “read like mad.” He also Wilson, an art history professor at Hope previous page College, and also Henry Matthews, who Cyril remembers receiving the commis- at that time was working at the Detroit sion and then working through details of Steel Water Institute of Arts. Cyril visited the DIA and the work with the selection committee. Painted Steel connected with Matthews who gave him He chuckles when he recalls one of 2007, 33' a personal tour of the collections. This the committee members protesting the Photo by Dr. James would lead to a strong professional and inclusion of the color red in the design Wieland, DDS personal relationship that continues to because it might remind patients or JW Marriott, enrich both of their lives to the present their families of blood. Even with this Grand Rapids, Michigan day. After becoming curator and then constraint, he created a piece that, director at the Muskegon Museum of Art, while sophisticated, brings a sense of Matthews invited Lixenberg to exhibit playfulness to the space. Cyril smiles opposite page there in a one-man show in 1988. This as he remembers a local newspaper led to a plethora of meaningful relation- reporter dubbing the piece a “canopy Steel Water (VB) ships along the Lake Michigan shore, of color.” Years later, in a strange twist Silkscreen, 2007 including Jack Wilson’s invitation to visit of fate while visiting West Michigan, 27 1/2" x 19 5/8" and exhibit at Hope College’s De Pree it would be at Holland Hospital where Gallery the following year. These initial Cyril’s beloved Saskia would be diag- exhibitions served as fertile ground for nosed with terminal cancer. the three decades of friendships, proj- ects and collaborations that continue In Muskegon, Cyril established his pres- to this day and in many ways culminate ence at the Muskegon Museum of Art in the exhibition for which this essay is where Henry Mathews had become 62 written. As is apparent in viewing the curator and later director. Today, among 63 GVSU Art Gallery exhibition, Cyril’s the first works of art a visitor to the work has seen a long process of trans- museum encounters are Torn Disc and formation and growth. From the figura- Torn Square. These companion sculp- tive paintings of his early years, to the tures stand outside the west entryway geometric abstraction and large-scale welcoming everyone and reminding sculptural commissions with which people that this is, indeed, a museum. he has been engaged over the last Executive Director Judith Hayner and several decades, his work has seen a Senior Curator Jane Connell note, “We significant evolution. However, there delight in Cyril’s characteristic bold, are forms and themes that consis- vivid colors; sharp, strong edges; and tently pervade his work. Likewise, formal and spontaneous effects. The his interest in engaging with commu- Muskegon Museum of Art boasts ten nity and working with young artists has Lixenbergs in its permanent collec- remained steadfast. tion, including the sculptures Torn Disk and Torn Square—newly repainted in Relatively soon after venturing to West Cyril’s signature bright blue, the result Michigan, Cyril began to inject his work of collaboration between the artist into its communities, with commissions and the MMA. That these sculptures awarded and exhibitions presented in welcome visitors daily at the entrance Muskegon, Grand Haven and Holland. to the museum attests to Cyril’s indel- A prime example is Interlocking, a ible mark on our community.” sculptural installation which hangs in the atrium of Holland Hospital. In Grand Rapids, the selection committee working in the Netherlands in the second him incredibly approachable. When not Over the past 30 years, few foreign charged with the task of commissioning half of the 20th century. in the studio meeting with artists, Cyril artists have had as significant and as a sculpture to commemorate the city’s was happy to tend the fire and “hold broad of an impact as Cyril Lixenberg on pioneering role in public health by fluori- Through this gift and acquisition, Jim court” with the campus community as our region. Whether exhibiting or guest dating its water supply had some specific and Donna Brooks had the opportunity it made its way through the dining room. teaching at one of our area colleges ideas about what they wanted and what to get to know Cyril. Jim Brooks is happy Soon, it seemed as though Cyril had or universities, hosting West Michigan they didn’t want. They wanted a piece that to share that “Cyril Lixenberg is a world- been at Ox-Bow all season and might college students at his Amsterdam was well suited for the selected location class creator of monumental sculptures just stay. studio, working on a large scale public on the Grand River’s downtown banks made of rugged steel; yet his personality installation, placing work at a museum, and they didn’t want a piece that directly is just the opposite: humble, soft and In 2011, Cyril signed on to be the jurying exhibitions, mentoring students related to dentistry or to representations gentle with a wry Dutch sense of humor.” master artist for a special art project at or spreading his energy and enthusiasm of teeth. Cyril conceived and submitted Jim comments that “Cyril has expanded Black River Charter School in Holland, for art and life, West Michigan is richer, designs for Steel Water. Cyril studied our community’s understanding of Dutch Michigan, funded by the GVSU Office thanks to Cyril’s many gifts and contri- the future site for the sculpture and felt art. Many in West Michigan think of the of Charter Schools and supported by butions. He has made our corner of the that creating a work that conveyed move- Dutch culture in 17th century tradition Grand Valley State University Art Gallery. world a bit bigger, more interesting and ment and was connected with the river of Tulip Time, Dutch costumes and the The project was also spearheaded by I would argue a better place. Cyril helps was very important. Steel Water received 17th century Dutch master painters. But West Michigan sculptor Cynthia McKean. us to think globally and embrace oppor- the commission in 2007 and it stands in the Netherlands is also famous for its Cynthia led high-school art students from tunities far beyond our local communities celebration of one of our region’s innova- modern art. Cyril’s sculptures exemplify Black River in person while Cyril tele- and simultaneously illustrates how those tions and also continues Cyril’s tradition the finest of modern design which we in commuted from his Amsterdam studio via opportunities can enhance our daily of forming meaningful connections. West Michigan are privileged to enjoy Skype to be part of the creative process lives here at home. with increasing frequency.” from the onset. The students then worked 64 After decades of participating in our on designing their work over several 65 cultural community as an artist, Cyril Apart from creating his own work, Cyril weeks. The project culminated with made a major impact as an art collector relishes the opportunity to support other Cyril’s arrival and the students, Cynthia, and a supporter of collections. In 2001, artists in their creative endeavors, espe- and Cyril working together in Ox-Bow’s he decided to support Grand Valley cially when they are students. Perhaps sculpture studio to create their finished State University’s growing collection of because his own education was so splin- work. When talking about the project and art with a major gift, in memory of his tered or simply through his generous working with students in general, Cyril late wife, of more than 300 of his own spirit, Cyril has been quick to sign on notes that “I care very much about kids works of art on paper created over the to projects whereby his talent, skills and, while I joke with them and want to last 40 years. This pioneering donation and experience can impact, inform and have fun, I take them seriously.” Cynthia triggered the creation of a Print and encourage students. simply states “They absolutely loved him. Drawing Cabinet at GVSU that has He’s a sage … They would chat with him, attracted other significant gifts. In the A few years ago while serving as exec- walk through the woods with him, and 2002–03 academic year, the univer- utive director of Ox-Bow School of Art talk about art.” Cynthia is quick to point sity celebrated a generous donation by and Artists’ Residency, I invited Cyril out that Cyril wasn’t only an inspiration to the Brooks Family of Holland, Michigan, to participate as a visiting artist. These the students but to her as well. “The first which facilitated the acquisition of a major mentors are charged with giving a time I met Cyril we were both showing on collection of contemporary Dutch prints presentation of their work, providing Grand Valley State University’s campus that Cyril had amassed from other artists critiques to interested students, visiting during ArtPrize 2010 and I was so through purchase and trading, beginning classes and injecting Ox-Bow’s campus enthralled with this man in his 70s who in 1958. As a result, GVSU now owns with another layer of creative energy. had been passionate about making art approximately 500 works of graphic Cyril was perfect in this role. His ability since he was 17. I wanted to know how art by a variety of prominent artists of to connect with people quickly through he got from there to here.” different nationalities, all of whom were his humor and general good nature made related exhibitions
Grand Valley State University Art Gallery Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey 08/23–11/01 ex 1121 Performing Arts Center Allendale, Michigan gvsu.edu/artgallery
Calvin College, Center Art Gallery Dissected Geometry: The Interaction of Forms in the Work of Cyril Lixenberg 09/03–10/19 66 1795 Knollcrest Circle SE 67 Grand Rapids, Michigan calvin.edu/centerartgallery
Grand Rapids Art Museum Cyril Lixenberg: The Story of Steel Water 08/16–10/27 101 Monroe Center St NW Grand Rapids, Michigan artmuseumgr.org
Muskegon Museum of Art Contemporary Showcase: Prints by Cyril Lixenberg 08/23–11/01 296 West Webster Avenue Muskegon, Michigan muskegonartmuseum.org
Saugatuck Center for the Arts hibiPoint Counterpoint: Cyril Lixenberg Screen Prints 08/24–11/09 400 Culver Street Saugatuck, Michigan tionsc4a.org gvsu exhibition art list cyril lixenberg: an artist’s journey
black lion still life with around the dutch man in profile yard, east end, vessel table landscape Sepia Ink Wash on london Oil on Canvas Ink, Ink Wash, and Oil on Canvas Paper Etching and Aquatint on ca. 1953–1954 Graphite on Paper ca. 1956 ca. 1956 Paper 19 5/8" x 23 3/4" 1956 18" x 23 1/2" 4 9/16" x 3 3/8" GVSUca. 1951 2013.15.18 8 1/2" x 7 1/4" 2013.15.27 2013.15.57 15 5/8" x 11 1/4" 2013.15.62 2013.15.83
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portrait of boy two men reading landscape with reclining nude in blue, spain seated Sepia Ink Wash on village Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas Ink on Paper Paper Oil on Canvas ca. 1958–1959 ca. 1957 ca. 1958 ca. 1958 ca. 1958–1959 23 5/8" x 31 1/2" 28 3/4" x 20 3/4" 10" x 12" 5 1/8" x 4 3/4" 18 1/8" x 23 1/4" 2013.15.7 2013.15.23 2013.15.59 2013.15.56 2013.15.20
ARTthe blessing amsterdam farming self portrait cave painting of the kohanim harbor landscape of the artist Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas Ink Wash on Paper Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas 1961 ca. 1958–1959 ca. 1958 1959 ca. 1960 24 3/4" x 15 3/4" 31 1/2" x 37 3/4" 7 3/4" x 10 1/4" 31 3/8" x 25 1/2" 17 7/8" x 14 3/4" 2013.15.1 GAL 2013.15.11 2013.15.58 2013.15.3 2013.15.25 Formed human ape view of the golem vortex Untitled Vietnam Zonder Titel infusion infusion landscape Oil on Canvas zuiderkerk, Oil on Canvas Mixed Media on Paper Abstraction Oil on Canvas Silkscreen Silkscreen Silkscreen Mixed Media on Paper 1961 amsterdam ca. 1965 1965 Mixed Media Print on ca. 1968 1970 1988 1988 ca. 1961 23 5/8" x 21 7/8" Oil on Canvas 43 1/4" x 35 1/2" 8 1/4" x 12 1/2" Paper 55 1/8" x 43 1/2" 25 1/2" x 34" 16" x 16" 16" x 16" 8 3/4" x 12 1/2" 2013.15.17 ca. 1964 2013.15.9 2013.15.71 ca. 1968 2013.15.14 2001.502.1 2003.001.1B 2003.002.1B 2013.15.64 20 3/4" x 17 3/8" 25 5/8" x 19 10/16" 2013.15.21 2013.15.50
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attack from bird of prey dead and dying dog of war Landscape infusion five to the Deforming Magela–s Magela–s heaven Mixed Media Monoprint Mixed Media on Paper Etching on Paper and animal Silkscreen square A and B Cube Silkscreen Silkscreen Mixed Media on Paper on Paper 1966 1966 Etching on Paper 1988 Painted Steel Silkscreen 2007 2007 1966 1966 16 3/8" x 11 5/8" 24 1/4" x 19 3/4" ca. 1966 16" x 16" 1996 1997 27 1/2" x 19 3/4" 27 1/2" x 19 3/4" 16 3/8" x 11 5/8" 19 3/4" x 13 1/2" 2013.15.69 2013.15.40 12 3/4" x 19 1/2" 2003.003.1B 12" x 12" x 11" 23 1/2" x 23 1/2" 2008.299.1A 2008.299.1B 2013.15.70 2013.15.17 2013.15.52 2004.038.1A-B 2001.0398.1
The time untitled upward flow tussendoor: Macarthur park Magela–s Magela–s steel water (VB) Magela saskia Magela saskia between Monoprint on Paper Mixed Media on Paper between time Off-set Lithograph Silkscreen Silkscreen Silkscreen Photo Gravure Photo Gravure Print in Oil and Caparol on 1966 ca. 1966 Oil on Canvas ca. 1968 2007 2007 2007 2012 Black and Rust with Canvas 19 3/4" x 13" 16 3/8" x 11 5/8" ca. 1967 11" x 15" 27 1/2" x 19 3/4" 27 1/2" x 19 3/4" 27 1/2" x 19 5/8" 15 3/4" x 22 1/4" Hand Stenciling 1966 2013.15.38 2013.15.68 55" x 39 1/2" 2008.299.1C 2008.299.1D 2007.257.1 2012.53.1 2012 GVSU Lixenberg Archival 15 1/2" x 22 1/2" 43 3/8" x 35 3/4" 2013.15.15 Collection 2013.15.10 2012.53.2 acknowledgements
As the Grand Valley State University son, Onno, daughter-in-law, Tamar and and Information Services for their Finally, I’d like to thank the project’s NEXT page Art Gallery staff prepares to open the young grandson, Jaïr, who have enriched thorough documentation of oral inter- major underwriters Larry and Elaine exhibition Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s all of our lives. views with Lixenberg in September 2012. Rutowski Shay, Alumna 2012, of Grand Cyril and Saskia on their wedding day, 1964 Journey as the inaugural event of the University Archivist Nancy Richard has Rapids. Their generous participation Photographer Unknown university’s 2013 Fall Arts Celebration, I would particularly like to thank and scanned documents and begun the work and gracious support as friends of the I wish to extend my appreciation to acknowledge the Art Gallery’s staff of making the Lixenberg archives cata- artist is particularly appreciated. Grand President Thomas J. Haas and Provost and consultants beginning with Guest loged and accessible. Assistant Gallery Valley State University is also pleased Gayle R. Davis for their encouragement Curator Timothy Chester for countless Director Cathy Marashi ably administered to acknowledge that this program is and support as well as for the provision hours of interviewing Lixenberg, sorting the exhibition, and Office Coordinators supported, in part, by public funds of introductory thoughts for this catalog. through art and archival materials at Jenniffer Eckert and Barb Farah kept from the Consulate General of the Thanks are also due to Special Assistant the artist’s home and studio, curating project meetings and expenditures in Netherlands in New York, and through to the President Teri Losey and GVSU’s the exhibition and writing an insightful line, while Gallery Receptionist Colleen funding provided by a grant from the Community Relations Director Patricia essay and timeline. This work, together Bazuin provided security and hospitality. Netherland-America Foundation. Waring for their ongoing support with his editing, is the basis for a catalog and attention to countless details which will be a definitive overview of Satellite exhibitions of specific aspects I am most fortunate to be able to bring in bringing the Fall Arts Celebration to Lixenberg’s artistic output for decades of Lixenberg’s art have been mounted at art to the many campuses of GVSU, a our community. to come. I also wish to thank Jason sister institutions across West Michigan, tradition begun with President Emeritus Kalajainen for his personal insight into taking place in communities where Cyril Don Lubbers who envisioned art This exhibition and accompanying printed Lixenberg’s work in Michigan and to Lixenberg has a history of participating throughout the university which was and online catalog were conceived as Visiting Assistant Professor Ellen E. and being actively involved since 1985. continued by his successor, Mark Murray, 72 an important means of showcasing and Adams for placing the age of post World GVSU expresses deep appreciation and which continues to this day due to 73 celebrating the university’s compre- War II Dutch art into a historical context. to our colleagues who helped to make the unwavering support of President hensive holdings of the creative life work this a truly regional celebration. They Thomas J. Haas and Provost Gayle R. of the Dutch artist Cyril Lixenberg, well The Art Gallery’s staff journeyed to include Director of Exhibitions Joel Davis. More than twelve thousand works known both in the Netherlands and West Amsterdam to document, sort, pack and Zwart at Calvin College’s Center Art of art have been acquired by the university Michigan for his graphic art and monu- photograph works of art in the artist’s Gallery; Director Dana Friis-Hansen, for its permanent collection, of which mental sculpture. historic Spinhuissteeg studio, including Associate Curator Cindy Buckner, and Lixenberg’s art is an important part. It has Exhibits Designer Paris Tennenhouse, Curatorial Assistant Julie Burgess at the been both fascinating and a rewarding I wish to thank the artist for his generosity Collections Manager Nathan Kemler and Grand Rapids Art Museum; Director task for all who have worked to make and long-standing friendship. His most Curator of the GVSU Print and Drawing Judy Hayner, Curator Jane Connell, and it happen. recent gift of his early paintings, drawings, Cabinet David Keister. They also have a Associate Curator Art Martin at the prints, monoprints and personal archives long history of installing Lixenberg’s art Muskegon Museum of Art and Director dating from 1951 augment his many throughout many GVSU campuses. In Kirsten Armstrong at the Saugatuck previous gifts of sculpture and works Amsterdam they were ably assisted by art Center for the Arts. on paper presented to GVSU over the handler Erik Oegema and photographer past 14 years. Lixenberg has not only Rianne Randeraad. In Allendale, Alison Gwen O’Brien, Dottie Rhodes and Henry A. Matthews been a donor, but he has shared freely Christensen coordinated matting and Nicole La Fave, the amazing and talented Director of Galleries and Collections of himself during his numerous visits to framing of works of art and her creativity members of the design firm Plenty Grand Valley State University our region and also of the hospitality of brought about the exhibition’s design and provided a highly innovative design for his Amsterdam home and studio with installation, ably assisted by preparators both the printed exhibition catalog and students, faculty and staff. I also want Jonathan Kloote and Dru King. Special the online version, which Lixenberg loved to recognize the help and warmth of thanks are owed to Mary Pirkola, from their first presentation. his late wife, Saskia, and of his family Bill Cuppy, Jeremy Knickerbocker and members including his daughter, Dana, Hayley Van Oeveren of GVSU’s News Dedicated in loving memory to Saskia 77
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