Roundism Tapestries

Sans titre – 30-07-18 (Faye Dunaway) I was captured by the high lights at the top and the bottom and decided to keep the planes straight, putting the stress on the rough edged character of the figure. I also didn’t straighten out much of the lines and planes for that reason, keeping it a kind of worked out sketch rather than to refine and soften it too much. Graphite pencil drawing (Pentel 0.5 mm, 3B) on Canson Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm) - A4 format) Artist: Corné Akkers

This is the first art statement on a drawing I wrote before completing it. It is time to express my dissatisfaction with today’s modern art. Having visited galleries and museums from early childhood on and seeing it all, I also am a son of a carpenter and skills and crafts were and still are very important in my family. It is from this perspective that I always have seen and valued art all around me. I strongly believe in the ethymological sense of the word ‘art’, meaning ‘skill as a result of learning or practise’. Therefor I turned to Vermeer and tried my skills on this old master. I took a newer and even greater model though: Scarlett Johansson, posing in the movie ‘the Girl with the Pearl Earring’. A reference to old masters is great...

Tunesian Woman This piece ‘Carthaginian waiting for her hero’s return – 29-12-14’ stands on its own I think. Some years back I came in contact with a young Tunesian woman Asma on Facebook. She had this great profile picture of her sitting on the dock of a bay at Tunis. My classical background (latin and greek) associated her with Dido, waiting for Aeneas at Carthage (Cartago). Looking back this one reminds me of stained glass but already with my roundism style employed. I consider roundism as the prolongation of cubism. Composition Asma’s beautiful female and round features I tried to mimic in the wave patterns. From a compositionary point of view all the movement in the negative space around the female form was utterly necessary. I...

Kethel – 13-07-19 When I returned to my car from my little trip to Kethel, Schiedam, Netherlands, I saw this beautiful tree in bloom. Sometimes you look for grand things and the little all of a sudden pop into your eyes when least expected. The actual tree was in no interesting area but the very shape struck me by lightning. I took a picture and decided to do it only now (in summer). I tried to capture the flow of the flowering tree and of course in my roundish style. Graphite pencil drawing (Pentel 0.5 mm, 3B) on Winsor & Newton paper (10.5 x 14.8 x 0.1 cm – A6 format) Artist: Corné Akkers

Sans titre - 26-03-18 Myrna Loy Another graphite pencil drawing in the Sans Titre series. It was some time ago I drew Vivian Leigh in ‘Sans Titre – 05-01-18’ so it was about time. Seeing a photo of 1930s moviestar Myrna Loy reminded me of why I like this kind of photography so much. It oozes out the art deco era. It is the composition of course but also the lighting. In many ways this differs from a tonal point of view compared to contemporary photography a lot. Thinking of Art Deco’s men like Paul Poiret, all those fabrics come to mind with cubist and oriental inspired forms. Bauhaus It reminds me of the efforts Johannes Itten made at the Bauhaus scene, trying to combine art with craftmanship such as designing textiles. One...

The Court Pond (De Hofvijver) Situated in the heart of The Hague (Den Haag) The Court Pond (De Hofvijver) is next to the Tweede Kamer (dutch Parliament) at the Binnenhof. It is a great spot to linger about and to me symbolizes the quiet, almost village-like character of the center of this old city. If The Hague ever were to have a unique landmark, this certainly would be a strong candidate. Basic Geometry I wanted to break up the scene into three basic geometrical forms: circles, plains and triangles. Therefor this wish is a natural continuation of abstracting forms into basic ones further like in my drawing Roundism – 26-11-16. As to this drawing, this is the first one showing all three basic geometrical forms together. Main Obj...

My Niece And it so happens my niece Lilian turned out to be a great photographer. Lo and behold, artistry runs deep in the veins of our family and I asked her to use a beautiful photo she took of a treeline in Puiflijk, near to where she lives. Direct Cause Direct cause to draw this one, next to the photo, is a discussion I had with a friend of mine (Piet-Jan) about the meaning of ‘The Star and Crescent’, being a symbol in islamic traditions, only for us to find out the invention of the very symbol stretches back another 1000 years prior to islam. Something powerful is happening here for sure. Anyway, boom! There it was, Lilian’s photo arrived in the mid of our discussion and there you have it: the Universe intervened. Royal Esta...

Some time ago, on my way to Museum Singer at Laren, Noord-Holland, Netherlands, I came across a small meadow where my favorite tree stands that I painted years ago (autumn tree at Laren), where these two horses were. I am not a trained doctor in horses’ physiology but I saw from the motionless body of the lying horse and her rapid eye movements that she was in poor shape, not to speak of immiment death lurking. The other horse was standing on guard next to it. I was fascinated by the beauty of the verticality and horizontal positions of both horses. When I returned from the museum both horses were removed. Whatever happened I don’t know but I am an artist and what I can do is to immortalize that horse that showed its compositary beauty r...

Park ’t Loo On my way to my students in Voorburg I come across Park ‘t Loo that had a reshape last year. Some natural river banks were created for birds to nest. The variety of vegetation also is extended. There is a herbal garden and some lovely flower beds. I once heared Princess Marianne van Oranje-Nassau used to walk this park from her home to Palace Huis Ten Bosch. Much has changed though ever since I guess. Sun Shimmers Through In this time of year I love to see the sun shimmer through leaves. It causes me to see a whole range of blue, yellow and ocre kind of greens. Besides these hues these settings show a maximal tonal bandwith sparkle in my eyes, almost like flikkering diamonds. I wanted to draw a rather abstract feel,...

De Koepel (The Dome) at Voorburg – 01-11-18 De Koepel When I go to teach at Studio Brugman, at Voorburg I often come across The Dome (De Koepel), situated in the middle of estate ‘Vreugd en Rust’. When I saw the autumn sun burst through the trees I dreamt myself a link to the ‘inner necessity’. This was felt by people like Alexej von Jawlensky and Kadinsky from the ‘Blaue Reiter’ movement. 1 + 1 equals two: that very sun and the exhibition I visited last Sunday at the Gemeentemuseum. There I saw all Alexej’s works and such culmunated into this piece, rather expressionistic of nature, in which I expressed my inner necessity. Technique My graphite pencil drawing ‘Het Oude Hof – 20-10-18’ was the last landscape piece I did. This tim...

Kethel – 13-07-19 Tree in Bloom When I returned to my car from my trip to Kethel, Schiedam, Netherlands, I saw this beautiful tree in bloom. Sometimes you look for grand things and the little all of a sudden pop into your eyes when least expected. The actual tree was in no interesting area but the very shape struck me by lightning. I took a picture and decided to do it only now (in summer). Live sketching can be overrated. It so happened that I do not have some pencils, paper and a camping chair at hand. Furthermore, I regularly see so many motifs that I cannot draw all at the very spot. From the moment I took this picture I planned to do this anyway, live or not. Encapsulated The last time I visited this beautiful little vil...