An Dekker (1931 – September 2012) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

, publisher and feminist. Her abstract works of sculpture heavily featured the dynamics of war, peace, and human relationships.

Biography

Dekker was born in the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

in 1931. Her family was involved with the Dutch communist community, and as such fled the country when the Netherlands was

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

and

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1940. Interested in sculpture from a young age, Dekker was educated at the Dutch Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied in the 1950s. She then moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to further her art career; while in France, she worked in the studio of prominent sculptor

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born on ...

. She held her first exhibition in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

in 1953. In 1957, Dekker moved with her husband (a food chemist) to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

; she would live and work there until 1971, and the nation's unique artistic tradition impacted Dekker's perception of art. While in Nigeria, her husband was killed in an accident. Dekker remarried, but this marriage ended in a separation. Dekker moved to London in 1972. While living in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, Dekker became a part of the burgeoning

Women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

. During the period between her arrival and the mid-1980s, Dekker worked as a graphic designer during this time, and co-founded a collective of female graphic designers. She returned to her native Netherlands in the mid-1980s, where she founded a publishing house in Amsterdam. She and her partner ( Ankie Peypers, a Dutch poetess) moved to France in the early 1990s. In 1997, Dekker returned to sculpting, a trade which she continued in until her death in 2003.

References

20th-century Dutch sculptors 21st-century Dutch sculptors 1931 births 2012 deaths Dutch graphic designers Dutch feminists {{Netherlands-artist-stub