Jan Cox (27 August 1919 – 7 October 1980) was

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 ...

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

who spent the largest part of his creative life in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was born 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 of ...

Life

In 1945 he was a founding member of the 'Jeune Peinture Belge' group. By the end of that decade he was briefly associated the CoBrA movement, publishing some of his art in the CoBrA magazine. In 1950 he moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. After a brief stay in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he returned to the

in 1956, becoming head of the Painting Department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1974 he returned to Belgium, to live in Antwerp, and devote himself exclusively to painting. Jan Cox was psychically hyper-sensitive and suffered from recurrent depression throughout his life, eventually leading to his

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, in 1980. He is buried in the

Schoonselhof Cemetery Schoonselhof Cemetery (''Antwerpen Schoonselhof'') is located in Hoboken, Antwerp, a suburb of Antwerp, Belgium. Schoonselhof Cemetery has an islamic and Jewish section. There is also a Commonwealth war graves plot containing the graves of ...

in Antwerp.

Work

Several of his paintings are abstract, though some of his major successes were with (partly) figurative work: for instance, the cycle based on the myth of Orpheus which he produced in Boston, the cycle based on Homer's Iliad he produced after his return to Antwerp.

Artistic views

Jan Cox was convinced that the ''technical'' capabilities of a painter were of minor importance for the quality of the painting that resulted: in his view, all the technique a painter needed for the creation of paintings could be learnt in a few months, the rest depended on the painter's creativity.

Trivia

* His word can be used in

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

-Indonesian profanity word, Jancuk or Jancok.

Sources

Jan Cox, a Painter's Odyssey
a 1988 documentary film by Bert Beyens an
Pierre De Clercq
with the voice of

Jeroen Krabbé Jeroen Aart Krabbé (; born 5 December 1944) is a Dutch actor and film director with a successful career in both Dutch and English-language films. He is best known to international audiences for his leading roles in the Paul Verhoeven films ''So ...

telling the story.
Jan Cox A Painter's Odyssey on IMDBJan Cox at the-artists.orgJan Cox on "kunstonline"Myth, Symbol and Sexual Imagery in the painting of Jan Cox 1919-1980
- A honours dissertation by Peter P. Shea presented at the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews (UK) *(Biography in Dutch) ''Jan Cox'' - Philippe Pirotte; Robert F. Brown; Claire Van Damme; Karel Boullart. - Brussel : Gemeentekrediet, 1996. - 191 p., ill. - (Monografieën over moderne kunst; 1996: 6). - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Jan 1919 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Artists who committed suicide Belgian painters Dutch painters Dutch male painters Modern painters Artists from The Hague 1980 suicides 20th-century American male artists Suicides in Belgium

Life

Work

Artistic views

See also

Trivia

Sources