Erwin de Vries (21 December 1929 – 31 January 2018) was a Surinamese painter and sculptor. De Vries was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname' ...

, and is the half-brother of Henry Lucien de Vries, who served as governor of Suriname from 1965 until 1967.

Wim Bos Verschuur Wim Bos Verschuur, born Bernard Willem Hendrik Verschuur (23 May 1904 – 4 January 1985) was a Surinamese politician, activist, artist, and writer. On 30 July 1943, he was arrested and interned for opposing governor Johannes Kielstra; this caused ...

, his art teacher, convinced his parents to sent him to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to further his education. He studied at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

and at the

Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. It is a classical academy, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. The school supports ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. De Vries's first exhibition was in 1948 in Paramaribo. His work has since been displayed at the Stedelijk Museum and the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. He is the designer of the in

. De Vries has also exhibited a great deal in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

; there he became acquainted with the work of

Barrington Watson Basil Barrington Watson (9 January 1931 – 26 January 2016) was a Jamaican painter. Biography Born in 1931 January 9th in Lucea, Barrington Watson made his original mark in Jamaica as a football player for Kingston College. However, he ultima ...

, whose erotically charged paintings matched his own in tone.

References

*Veerle Poupeye. ''Caribbean Art''. London; Thames and Hudson; 1998.

External links

Biographical research into the life and work of the Surinamese artist Erwin de Vries
* 1929 births 2018 deaths Surinamese painters Surinamese sculptors People from Paramaribo {{Suriname-painter-stub