Bossert, Herman Bossert
[2006979]

Herman Bossert
1940-2017

Herman Bossert combineerde zijn leraarschap Frans met schilderen als hobby in een naïef/surrealistische, later in een Cobra-achtige stijl. In 2001 vindt een grote omwenteling plaats en stort hij zich geheel op het tekenen. Hij werkt nu associatief, in een semi-automatische krastechniek. Tot 2005 spelen mensen in zijn tekeningen nog de hoofdrol. Geleidelijk verschijnen er fantastische bouwsels aan de horizon. Zij sluiten zich aaneen tot reusachtige metropolen, die het hele blad vullen. Torens van zijn pompeuze gebouwen passen zelfs niet meer op het blad. Stromen auto’s wervelen door de straten. Mensen worden steeds nietiger. Door het aan elkaar monteren van tekeningen verhevigt hij het effect van een stedelijke jungle. De gebouwen samen vormen haast een bergmassief, maar, zegt Herman Bossert “de bouwwerken kunnen elk moment als kaartenhuizen in elkaar zakken.”

Exhibitions: INSITA 2010, in: Bratislava. Backyard Genius, in: Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium, 2009. Sous le vent de l’art brut 2. Collection De Stadshof, in: the Halle Saint Pierre, in Paris. Outsider Art in: Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, 2015.
 The Museum of Everything, in: De Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2016.

Herman Bossert (1940 – 2017)
21.01.2017 News
Met droefheid geven wij het nieuws door dat Herman Bossert plotseling is overleden, op 18 januari 2017.
Onze hartelijke condoleance gaat uit naar zijn vrouw en familie.

Herman Bossert is one of the most important artists in the Dutch outsider art / art brut collection of Foundation De Stadshof, in recent years. After his retirement from teaching French, painting and drawing have become Bosserts daily work. ‘Just scraping, it’s all just scraping.’ He keeps looking for the small things that make his work more mysterious and more puzzling.
To see the whole documentary on Bossert visit the collection on show in Museum Dr Guislain, Ghent. collectiedestadshof.nl
Directed and filmed by Ellen Weijers. Interview by Liesbeth Reith. Edited by Judith Schouten. Film commissioned by Collection De Stadshof Foundation, 2011. Copyright Collectie De Stadshof.

Herman Bossert was born in Amsterdam, in 1940, formerly a French teacher by profession. He’s a self-taught artist which creates paintings of mysterious town and city scenes that evokes associations with expressionism and surrealism.
A major upheaval in 2001 led him to focus solely on drawing. He subsequently worked associatively, with a semi-automatic hatching and scratching technique. People played the leading roles in his paintings until 2005. Invasive constructions then gradually appeared on the horizon, merging together to form gigantic metropolises. The towers of his grandiose buildings do not even fit onto the paper. He then introduced motorized vehicles. Processions of cars stream through the streets, planes swirl through the air. People become more and more insignificant. By mounting his drawings together he intensifies the impression of an urban jungle.

L’insegnante di francese Herman Bossert è nato ad Amsterdam nel 1940. Artista autodidatta, crea dipinti di città misteriose che evocano e richiamano dipinti espressionisti e surrealisti.
Un grande sconvolgimento nel 2001 lo ha portato a concentrarsi esclusivamente su disegno. Successivamente ha lavorato in modo associativo, con un tratteggio semi-automatico e la tecnica del graffio. Le persone hanno giocato ruoli di protagonisti nei suoi dipinti fino al 2005. Successivamente, costruzioni invasive apparvero all’orizzonte, fondendosi insieme a formare gigantesche metropoli. Le torri dei suoi grandiosi edifici non si adattano nemmeno alla grandezza del foglio di carta che le ospita. Processioni di auto per le strade e aerei turbinanti nell’aria hanno poi arricchito queste composizioni, concedendo sempre meno spazio alle persone, figure via via più insignificanti. Montando i suoi disegni insieme si intensifica sempre di più l’impressione di una giungla urbana.

His other theme is flowers, drawn in black ink and coloured in watercolours. But the image was not created in this order: Bossert starts by filling the paper with colourful splashes of paint, then he uses the blocks of colour as the blossoms of poppies, anemones and other such fragile little flowers. He assembles several drawings or strips to form a larger “carpet”, whereby the seams usually remain visible. Black ink is used to outline webs and weaves. The drawings are testimony of his self-awareness of a sense of pride in the work that demands so much effort and causes so much stress. But he just cannot stop. Every day he gets down to work once again, hatching and scratching. Bossier feels akin to the great artist Willem van Genk. He similarly also works with postcards and calendar images, which he cuts up and incorporates into his creations in order to combine these various components in a new piece.

Atro tema ricorrente sono i fiori, disegnati con inchiostro nero e colorati ad acquerello. Ma l’immagine non viene creata in quest’ordine: Bossert inizia riempiendo la carta con macchie di colore, poi trasforma i blocchi di colore in papaveri, anemoni e altri piccoli fiori fragili. Assembla diversi disegni o strisce a formare un grande “tappeto”, per cui le cuciture di solito rimangono visibili. I disegni sono la testimonianza della sua consapevolezza di un senso di orgoglio per il lavoro che richiede tanta fatica e causa tanto stress. Ma lui non riesce a smettere. Ogni giorno si mette al lavoro. Bossier si sente molto simile al grande artista Willem van Genk, accomunato anche dal fatto che entrambi usino cartoline e immagini di calendari da applicare nelle proprie creazione, quasi dando nuova vita a tali pezzi di carta.