Willem Schrofer (6 March 1898 – 22 September 1968) was a Dutch art teacher and painter. His vision influenced the Nieuwe Haagse School movement.

Life

His father was a cabinet maker, appointed by Princess von Wied as Superintendent of the Pavilion von Wied in Scheveningen, where his parents lived. Young Schrofer was obsessed with drawing. In 1913 he attended the National Training College in Nijmegen. Later he studied drawing at the

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague The Royal Academy of Art (KABK, nl, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) is an art and design academy in The Hague. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (part of the Confrerie Pictura), the academy was founded on 29 September 1682, m ...

. William Henry Bik was his teacher. After his military service, he became a teacher in the municipality of The Hague, where he soon specialised in drawing lessons. From 1937 to 1963 he was professor in the painting department at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. His friend,

Paul Citroen Roelof Paul Citroen (15 December 1896 – 13 March 1983) was a German-born Dutch artist, art educator and co-founder of the New Art Academy in Amsterdam. Among his best-known works are the photo-montage Metropolis and the 1949 Dutch postage stam ...

, also taught there. For a few years (1943-1949) he was Professor at the Institute Applied Art, which later became the Rietveld Academie.Elsie Drewes: Schrofer William (1898-1968), painter, maverick, Zutphen, Walburg Press, 1998 Schrofer was one of the founders of the Verve group - he coined the name. He was loved by his students; he received them at home and he taught them to be free to live and work. Among his pupils were: Hermanus Berserik, Toon Wegner and

Co Westerik Jacobus "Co" Westerik (2 March 1924 – 10 September 2018) was a Dutch visual artist. Life and work Born in The Hague on 2 March 1924, Westerik received his education at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague from 1942 to 1947. After his graduati ...

. His third wife,

Hannie Bal Johanna Anna Maria "Hannie" Bal (4 August 1921 - 24 October 2012) was a Dutch painter Netherlands Institute for Art History (Hannie Bal)de Scheen, 1969-1970, dl. 1, p. 47 (as: Bal, Johanna Anna Maria ('Hannie')de Jacobs, 1993 and part of the Verve ...

, was also a painter. In his time he was a famous Hagenaar.

Different styles

Schrofer painted in different styles and was a nonconformist. In the 1930s and 1940s he produced abstract paintings. Around 1948, precisely at the time of Cobra, he moved onto figurative painting. With

, Rein Draijer, Willem Jacob Rozendaal and Han van Dam, he had great influence on the students who are now under the Nieuwe Haagse School banner.

Workshop in Voorschoten

In 1963 Schrofer set up a studio in Voorschoten in an old bakery on the Molenlaan. Here he worked only on figurative paintings, including a painting of three friends with the price tag, "ntk" (not for sale).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schrofer, Willem 1898 births 1968 deaths Painters from The Hague 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters 20th-century Dutch male artists