Corneille, Cornelis van Beverloo: 1922 (Belgium)

The Artist :

Corneille was born in Liege Belgium in 1922, of Dutch parents. His artistic career has been active mainly in Paris. Corneille, together in Holland with Karl Appel, and George Constant formed a experimental group, who's mission was to seek new forms of elemental expression. The group was opposed to concrete art's principles of order and harmony. They opposed the order of the art of Mondrian and De Stijl and the academy.

Through contacts with similar groups in Copenhagen and Brussels, the Corneille, Appel and Constant group, in 1948, evolved into the international expressionist group known as CoBrA (Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam). The Danish painter Asger Jorn and the Belgian born Pierre Alechinsky were other notable members. Corneille, with Piere Alechinsky, was one of the more controlled artists in the group. The others leaned more toward a violent/wild synthesis of form and color.

In the 1950's Corneille exhibited throughout Western Europe. He came to the United States in 1958, after having won the 1956 First Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute. Corneille is represented in the collections of major museums in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.

The Art:

Corneille, like most of the artists associated with the CoBrA group, employed some sort of subject/figuration which usually derived from folk art, children's art, prehistoric, or primitive art. This expression, combined with the CoBrA group's most important unifying principle - the doctrine of complete freedom of abstract expressive forms, with an accent on gesture, is the basis of Corneille's work.

Corneille's work is marked by brilliant colors and vigorous brush strokes. Using largely undiluted primary colors with blacks, whites, and greens, his art combines asymmetrically balanced color and shapes sufficient to bring a degree of order out of apparent chaos, and at the same time not diminish the explosive fury of abstract expressionist art.

Corneille20 Cornelis Corneille. Figure from the 1975 Italian Suite. Lithograph. 42/100. The paper size is 20" x 28". The lithograph was acquired in 1977. The work is signed and numbered in pencil Color is vibrant crisp and clean. This work is a classic example of the artist's style, at the height of his career. The artwork, margins and art surface, is in excellent condition. Close-Up $650.

See Alechinsky, CoBrA artist.