Karel Appel Symposium

“I just mess around,” Karel Appel said in an interview with Jan Vrijman in 1955. A few years later Vrijman made the documentary 'The Reality of Karel Appel', which documents Karel Appel as he slashes and stabs at the canvas with great colorful globs of paint. It created the image of an artist who works spontaneously and purely from impulses. But is this the case?

Recent research into his working method and use of materials shows the opposite. There has been a change in the appreciation of his work. There is a renewed interest in Appel among young – mostly American – artists. On June 24, the work of Karel Appel will be central during the international symposium "Dispelling the Myth of 'Just Messing Around': New perspectives on Karel Appel’s use of materials and technique." Various experts shed light on his work, his use of paint and his painting technique and also discuss issues surrounding the conservation of his work.

Speakers include Joan Banach (artist, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Painting), Klaas Jan van den Berg (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands / University of Amsterdam), Ida A. T. Bronken (National Museum, Oslo), Juliette Evezard (Université Jean Monnet Saint- Étienne), Fahed Ibrahim (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands), Franz W. Kaiser (Karel Appel Foundation), Hanspeter Marty (Kunsthaus Zürich), Antonien Rijksen (Karel Appel Foundation) and Louise Wijnberg (conservator).

The symposium is a co-production of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Karel Appel Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). It is part of the RCE's Heritage of the 20th Century research program, which focuses on the conservation and restoration of modern works of art.

Program

Moderated by Sandra Kisters & Klaas-Jan van den Berg

09:30 am Walk-in
10.00 - 10:10 am Welcome (Ina Klaassen)
10:15 - 10.35 am Klaas-Jan van den Berg: ‘I start from my basic material – paint’. An introduction to the symposium.
10:40 - 11:10 am Franz Kaiser: ‘Spontaneity’ as a common thread of the international avant-garde of the 1950s – origins, meaning and consequences for the conservation of paintings
11:15 - 11:35 am Antonien Rijksen: Composing Images. Karel Appel’s use of drawings in the making of his paintings.
11.40 - 12.00 am Ida Bronken: Establishing pieces of the material practices of Karel Appel. Investigation into soft oil paint from his Paris period, and critical issues on their future care.
12.00 - 2.00 pm Lunch (included)
2.00 - 2.20 pm Juliette Evezard: The elusive Karel Appel
2.25 - 2.45 pm Louise Wijnberg: A closer look at the paintings of Karel Appel in the collection of the Boijmans Van Beuningen: The materials and painting techniques.
2.50 - 3.10 pm Fahed Ibrahim: Notes on the materials’ use of Karel Appel in his paintings. House paints vs ‘high quality‘ artists’ paints.
3.15 pm Break
3.45 - 4.05 pm Hanspeter Marty: Observations on painting technique
4.10 - 4.30 pm Interview: Franz Kaiser, Joan Banach, Hanspeter Marty & Louise Wijnberg
4.30 pm Discussion
5.00 pm Drinks

Information

Date: Monday 24th of June, 2024
Time: 09.30 am – 6.00 pm
Tickets: €25,00 regular / €12,50 students | ticketlink below
Location: Coert | Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen | Museumpark 24, Rotterdam
Language: English

Karel Appel

Amsterdam 1921 - Zürich 2006

Karel Appel was given a painting set by his uncle when he was fifteen and was encouraged to paint. He studied at the Rijksacademie [National Academy] in Amsterdam from 1940 to 1943. Paintings from his early period are inspired by the work of George Breitner. During the Second World War, Appel began to paint more espressively, influenced by Van Gogh and the German expressionists and later by Matisse and Picasso. In 1948, Appel was, together with Corneille, one of the founders of CoBrA (Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam). The paintings by this group are characterised by simple, spontaneous, expressive shapes and bright colour inspired by children's drawing and primitive art. After CoBrA fell apart, Appel began to work with thicker paint and his work seems wilder.