VISSER, Cor

1903 - 1982

Cornelis Visser was born at Spaarndam, North Holland on 26 August 1903, fourth child of Siebe Visser, a water-lock builder, and his wife Alida Francina née Kipperman, the family home was near the region's extensive network of canals and waterways which provided an early immersion in the dynamic landscapes of Dutch water management, fostering Visser's interest in natural forms and the manual craftsmanship essential to his father's trade. He entered the Harlem Academy of Art at the age of fourteen and two years later exhibited his first works in the Amsterdam Museum when the Rijksmuseum purchased two of his works. At the academy Visser became a close friend of fellow student Mauritz Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898-27 March 1972). Visser specialised in woodcuts, linocuts, and drawings of plants, animals, and rural life before shifting focus to oils, watercolors, and charcoals during his time abroad. From 1927 he held exhibitions most years in various towns throughout Holland and Belgium and from these exhibitions the Teyler Museum at Haarlem and the Museum des Beaux Art, Antwerp purchased his works. He married in the Netherlands on 10 August 1929, Emma Nieuwstad (30 October 1893-1962), daughter of Jan Nieuwstad, a master builder. During this time they lived aboard a seagoing yacht ‘The Sparvum’ on the Zuider Zee, later to be replaced by a 40ft Dutch clipper ‘The Emmy’ and in 1937 he sailed to Pin Mill, near Ipswich and in 1939 he was living aboard the 'Emmy' yacht off Ferry Quay, Woodbridge, Suffolk and became trapped in Britain by the outbreak the Second World War. He then served as the official artist to the exiled Dutch Royal Family, then living in exile in London, producing portraits of royals, officials, and military figures spending much of his time living in and around Suffolk. As a landscape, coastal and portrait artist he exhibited at Cooling Galleries in 1938 and established a permanent home in Ipswich and at the request of Anna Airy, then president of the Ipswich Art Club, was elected a member which he retained until his retirement in 1974, when elected a life member. He opened Fore Street Gallery at 44 Fore Street, Ipswich and formed a small group of students who met weekly in his studio. A selection of his work is exhibited in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Ipswich Borough Council's Museums and Galleries Collection also contains a large selection of his paintings. His wife died in 1962, and Cornelis Visser died at 140 Back Hamlet, Ipswich on 27 September 1982. He exhibited at the centenary of the Ipswich Art Club in 1974 a watercolour 'Barges on Pin Mill Hard' and black chalk 'Looking at the Finished Picture' and as a life member exhibited from his studio at 44 Fore Street, Ipswich in 1977 'Portrait Study'.

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Works by This Artist