Constant

Amsterdam, 1920 - Amsterdam, 2005

Constant Anton Nieuwenhuijs trained successively at the Kunstnijverheidsschool and Amsterdam’s prestigious Rijksacademie from 1939 to 1942. In 1946 he met Asger Jorn in Paris. Around this time his paintings started to feature fantastic beasts and aggressive, frightening animal and human figures. Constant mounted his first solo exhibition in Amsterdam in 1947. In the following year he helped found the Dutch Experimental Group and subsequently CoBrA.

Together with Christian Dotremont, Constant was CoBrA’s leading theoretician. As co-founder of the Experimental Group he had authored the manifesto the group published in the first issue of its newsletter ‘Reflex’. In the countless manifestos and articles he wrote for CoBrA he examined the social role of the artist, calling for the liberation of creativity and imagination in the service of a culture constantly renewing itself.
In the art works that he produced during his CoBrA years we see the same sort of figures derived from children’s drawings as in Appel, executed in rough lines and deliberately clumsy forms.

In 1950 Constant settled in Paris, where he met Stephen Gilbert. During this time he produced his ‘war paintings’, which take as their subject the remains of a destroyed world wherein helpless people stretch out their hands to heaven. It was in the late Fifties that Constant developed his ideas about the ideal city, ‘New Babylon’, in which people freed from work –homo ludens –would be able to develop their creative abilities. Constant took part in the 1956 conference Mouvement pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste’ organised by Jorn, and in the following year he became one of the founders of the “Situationist International.”

From the Seventies onwards Constant increasingly concentrated on painting, water colours and drawings. The work of the Old Masters was an important source of inspiration. Constant died in 2005 and is remembered as one of the Netherlands’ best post-war artists.

 

Editions

La Guerre - 1

La Guerre – 1

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 2

La Guerre – 2

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 3

La Guerre – 3

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 4

La Guerre – 4

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 5

La Guerre – 5

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 6

La Guerre – 6

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 7

La Guerre – 7

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

La Guerre - 8

La Guerre – 8

lithograph
1951
40 x 29 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

Labyrint

Labyrint

lithograph
1968
50 x 72 cm
Edition 60
Price on request

_DSC5490

Interieur

dry point needle, etching
1970
13 x 19 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

Joyriding

Joyriding

dry point needle, etching
1970
6 x 16 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

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Labyr

dry point needle
1970
15 x 14 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

Speelveld

Speelveld

dry point needle, etching
1970
7 x 9 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

_DSC5487

Het Wiel

etching
1970
21 x 19 cm
Edition 60
Price on request

Danser met Vogel

Danser met Vogel

aquatint, etching
1971
10 x 13 cm
Edition 20
Price on request

_DSC5493

De Fles

etching
1971
16 x 19 cm
Edition 20
Price on request

Constant-Vrouw

Vrouw met dildo

etching
1971
14 x 13 cm
Edition 20
Price on request

Constructie van een labyrint

Constructie van een labyrint

dry point needle, etching
1972
17 x 16 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

Sade in het Labyrinth

Sade in het Labyrinth

etching
1972
56 x 40 cm
Edition 190
Price on request

Plaisir et tristesse de l'amour I

Plaisir et tristesse de l’amour I

etching
1979
47 x 37 cm
Edition 99
Price on request

Plaisir et tristesse de l'amour II Het bondgenootschap tussen Casanova en de moraal

Plaisir et tristesse de l’amour II Het bondgenootschap tussen Casanova en de moraal

etching
1979
42 x 43 cm
Edition 99
Price on request

Plaisir et tristesse de l'amour III Het proces

Plaisir et tristesse de l’amour III Het proces

etching
1979
38 x 54 cm
Edition 99
Price on request

L'Ultima cena

L’Ultima cena

aquatint, etching
1980
64 x 70 cm
Edition 70
Price on request

_DSC5496

De executie

etching
1982
14 x 12 cm
Edition 190
Price on request

_DSC5486

De zangeres

etching
1982
13 x 14 cm
Edition 190
Price on request

ConstantOrpheus

Orpheus

etching
1982
41 x 39 cm
Edition 200
Price on request

Le Cauchemar

Le Cauchemar

lithograph
1988
50 x 50 cm
Edition 150
Price on request

Horreur

Horreur

lithograph
1988
44 x 44 cm
Edition 50
Price on request

Erlkönig

Erlkönig

aquatint, etching
1990
20 x 15 cm
Edition 15
Price on request

Vrouw met hond

Vrouw met hond

etching
1990
24 x 20 cm
Edition 20
Price on request

Archie Bunker

Archie Bunker

aquatint, etching
1991
15 x 20 cm
Edition 10
Price on request

Spelende honden

Spelende honden

aquatint
1991
20 x 21 cm
Edition 99
Price on request

Man, vrouw en hond

Man, vrouw en hond

aquatint, etching
1992
13 x 17 cm
Price on request

_DSC3897

Schaatsers

aquatint, etching
1992
18 x 28 cm
Edition 15
Price on request

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About

Jaski Gallery is situated in the heart of Amsterdam’s Art & Antiques district, where we’ve been since 1988. We specialise in work from the CoBrA movement and contemporary art. The gallery regularly stages exhibitions and takes part in major art fairs such as TEFAF in Maastricht and PAN Amsterdam.

Contact

Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 29
1017 DB Amsterdam
Tuesday – Sunday 12:00 – 18:00
+31 20 6203939
info@jaski.nl