Leo Hendriques Hugo Glans (11 April 1911 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's ...

– 9 October 1980 in Wassenaar) was a

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se painter. He was the first Surinamese to study at the

Rijksakademie 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 support ...

. In 1927, Glans opened the ''Van Gogh'' studio. There was no proper education for art painting in Suriname and therefore he applied for a scholarship, and in 1929 leaves for

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. During 1929 and 1930, Glans spent his Saturdays in

Natura Artis Magistra Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for "Nature is the teacher of the arts"), commonly known just as Artis (), is a zoo and botanical garden in the centre of Amsterdam. It is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and fifth oldest zoo in the world. In addit ...

drawing animals. Between 1936 and 1938, Glans starts to explore many modernist movements like

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. Many

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s are painted during that period as well. Around 1940, Glans becomes blind, because of

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

. In 1946, Glans married, moved to Wassenaar were they started an art collection.

Bibliography

* C.H. de Jonge-Verduin ''Licht en duisternis; De Surinaamse schilder Leo Glans (1911-1980)''. Amsterdam: KIT, 2005.

References

1911 births 1980 deaths People from Paramaribo 20th-century Surinamese painters Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands {{Suriname-painter-stub