In memoriam: the rich, creative life of Artist Jan de Winter(August 5th, 1939 – October 17th, 2022)

Written By Benne van der Velde

Second things first:

Jan de Winter was a Dutch sculptor, glazier and painter. De Winter was born in Vlaardingen where he lived his whole life. The story goes that during his birth a marching band could be heard playing outside. This might have had something to do with him being born on the same day as Princess Irene, but since there’s almost nobody alive left to tell me no, I say they were there especially for him? In his younger years he worked as a glazier at a company in Schiedam (gebroeders Henderickx), attending evening courses at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam until 1962. He later said he’d learned more working as a glazier than during his whole time the art academy.

De Winter is best known for his leaded windows, paintings and being an abstract sculptor. He was an avid violin player as well. In this article someone’s telling how you could often hear him playing his favorite classical pieces when you walked past their (wife Joke, two sons Frans and Martin and his) house in de Landstraat. Many of his artworks are/were visible in the public domain. One of his best-known works is leaded window 'Vuur, water en energie' (translated: Fire, water and energy).

“Vuur, water en energie”

The ornament was designed in 1970 for the Gemeentelijk Energie- en Waterbedrijf (GEWB) (translated: Municipal Energy and Water Company). After the demolition of the building a school director was able to save the artwork. It is since 2007 mounted above the main entrance of the Groen van Prinstererlyceum. A selection of others:

·       Vogelvlucht (1969), Fredrik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen

·       Glas- en koperreliëf Vuur, Water en Energie (19??), Accentcollege Rotterdamseweg in Vlaardingen - moved in 2007

·       Twee polen (1971), pond at the Frederik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen

·       Metaalreliëf Compositie (1974), Liesveldviaduct in Vlaardingen

·       Metaalplastiek Doelman (1974), Meidoornstraat in Vlaardingen

·       Mozaïek en twee glas-in-loodramen (1975), Christian school Kethel, Vlaardingseweg in Schiedam

·       Dubbel Figuur (1984), Columbusstraat in Vlaardingen

·       Vizier (1996), Vikingbank in Vlaardingen

·       Glas-in-loodramen, Hospital in Ede

·       Glaswand, Social services in Delft

·       Pegasus, Vlaardingen

·       Energie, garden museum Maassluis

·       Naamloos uit 1963, simular to "Vogelvlucht" from 1969, but vertical and smaller, NLW Groep Venray

“Twee polen”

“Energie”

“Vogelvlucht”

Ancient mythology was an essential inspiration for a lot of his work. Visit his page on the RKD (Netherlands Institute For Art History) website for even more photo’s? de Winter died in his house in Vlaardingen on 17 October 2022, at the age of 83 years old.

A small piece, in glass, made for the grave of one Jaap Pietersen, titled: ‘Sun, sea, wind and water’

“Vermurail” 1972

During the memorial service his sisters and sons remembered him as always having been a creative and adventurous spirit. How he would perform puppet shows on winter evenings as a boy, to which he would invite his nieces, nephews and all the neighborhood kids. And that it had been his father who instilled in him his love for music, and for playing instruments.
“Jan was a creative brother, who was always busy painting, drawing, making mosaics and music. The sleeping room he shared with his brother Aad and Klaas looked like a true atelier,” his sister Gerda remembered. His wife and he had been extremely proud of their two sons for following in his footsteps; Martin de Winter as a violinist and Frans de Winter as an artist.

A temporary mural design by Mr. de Winter (1990s)

And first things second because

this ‘in memoriam’ is personal. Very. Frans de Winter and I have been friends for over 3 decades at this point, and it is an honor for me to be able to help showcase his father’s brilliant work to a broader, international audience in this little way. I’ll share some of those personal memories about Mr. Jan de Winter to tell you why I feel this way:

Mr. de Winter as a purist. One of the first performances I ever did was reciting my poetry to a piano piece by Chopin, played live by Frans, during an open mic session in restaurant ‘De Planken Op’. Must have been… 1997? I remember de Winter sr. was torn about that one. Secretly proud, I imagine, yes, but equally AND openly as appalled that we had dared to add to such a genius piece of music :)

Jan as a host: when I would come over to their house, to practice said performance, or later, to pick Frans up to go out or something, he and Joke would sit me down and pour me a big glass of red wine, and before I knew what was happening a second… He and Joke have always made me feel more than welcome there, if not a little drunk after my unavoidable third.

The artist as a dad: when Frans and I went on working vacation to Les Contes, a spiritual bread and breakfast my aunt and uncle ran in the French Pyrenees back in 2000, Mr. de Winter insisted he’d drive us to the international Bus stop in Rotterdam, from where we would take said bus to France… Truly a lovingly bumpy and to be completely honest pretty scary ride to remember!

And finally, his atelier. Full on mesmerizing. Filled to the brink with papers, drawings, art supplies, piles of different pieces of glass, giant art tools like a cutting table, ehm, soldering equipment, stacks of his lithographs, paintings, his violin, and all of this must have appeared like a complete chaos to most, but you could just… feel that everything was EXACTLY where he needed it to be…

So. Yeah. Thank you for these, Mr. de Winter. Jan de Winter. Rest in peace, please.

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Benne van der Velde

After thoroughly enjoying the Dutch slam poetry scene in the early and mid 2000s (with wins in 7 cities and eventually a place in the Nationals of 2012) and performances at the Lowlands-, Uitmarkt- and Parade festivals a/o, Benne successfully made the transition from the stage to paper by signing his first publishing deal in 2005. Since then 4 publishing houses (kleine Uil, Douane, Nadorst and Stanza) released volumes of his poetry. For a 5th (Passage) he co-edited an anthology of satirical/pamphlet poetry with fellow poets Daniel Dee and Alexis de Roode.

As a member of the artist movement ‘Het Ongeboren Idee’ he helped to organize (and was part of/presented) cultural lo-fi festivals, exhibitions, making a movie, monthly poetry stages in his hometown of Vlaardingen (Poezie in De Steeg), Rotterdam (De Poetsclub) and Nijmegen (Late Letteren Live) + a talent show for bands.

In 2002 and 2003 he studied ‘writing for performance’ at the vocational university of the Arts in the city of Utrecht (HKU) and as a result saw 3 of his theater plays make it to a stage. Writer Hiekelien van den Herik and he co-wrote a knight spectacle play complete with real choreographed sword fights, men in heavy plate armor and more great stuff like that. Theater-/enactment group Ridderspoor performed said play in 2004 and 2005 at Het Archeon, during De Kasteeldagen and at an Elfia-fantasy fair. He also gave numerous poetry and rap workshops at schools and other institutions. There were a lot of collabs too, for example voice-over work for a Rock Opera, a monumental art project for which he partnered up with the artist Erwin Adema and thrice alongside the R.J.S.O (The Rotterdam Youth Symphony Orchestra).

Benne has been an editor for several literary magazines (Krakatau, Renaissance and Op Ruwe Planken), at one time he and his wife owned a secondhand bookstore, he’s been the official poet laureate for his hometown of Vlaardingen and released his first and only Dutch rap-EP in 2011. In 2012 he rapped his way into the finals of Art Rocks. An EP with songs in English followed in 2021. A year later he started translating Dutch musical and lyrical classics from Dutch into English, and vice versa. Some of his short sci-fi and fantasy stories have found their way to medium related websites, magazines and anthology’s.

According to the poet himself rewriting his own poetry, lyrics and prose in English somehow feels like the next logical step in his career, a way to open up to the world at large. Which is both exhilarating and terrifying. So far several of these translations have been published in Bebarbar, Hare’s paw, Festivalforpoetry, Punt Volat, The Dewdrop, The Dillydoun Review and Months to Years a/o.

In everyday (some claim real) life he worked as an industrial tank cleaner, in pest control, on a garbage truck, driving a forklift, in a chemical waste facility, on a Ferry and 10 years as a bartender in a cannabis bar. At the time of writing this resume he can be found at home or in the hospital battling throat cancer. He’s been off the Herb since 2008, has a wife, 2 dogs, mild anxiety issues and likes to read every sci-fi and fantasy classic he can find.

www.linkedin.com/in/benne-van-der-velde-8b17a7296

The poet/lyricist and author Rob Chrispijn: ‘Benne writes sentences that stick; clean, dark and intense. This way a poem lasts!’

The poet Philip Hoorne on the website Poetry rapport: ‘There’s a genius hiding in Benne van der Velde, those are the Good Tidings of today. Amen.’

https://www.doubledutchmagazine.com
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