Willem De Looper
| Willem de Looper | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
October 30, 1932 The Hague |
| Died | January 30, 2009 (aged 76) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Washington Color School, Color Field painting, Post-painterly Abstraction |
Willem Johan de Looper (October 30, 1932 – January 30, 2009) was an American abstract artist, and chief curator at The Phillips Collection.
Willem de Looper, born October 30, 1932, was the third child of Wilhelmina Johanna and Henri Bastiaan de Looper. He grew up in The Hague and had a Montessori education. During the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, the family moved three times, once settling with a family friend who was a musician. This started a lifelong love of music that would later influence de Looper's visual art. As the war ended and American publications, like The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, and Life became available, de Looper immersed himself in their content and spent a great deal of time copying the illustrations. He also developed a fascination with and love of America and American culture.
In 1950, at age 17, de Looper immigrated to Washington, D.C., joining his older brother Hans who worked at the International Monetary Fund. He started an undergraduate education in business and economics and then changed his major to art. At American University de Looper studied with Robert Gates, Sarah Marindah Baker, and Ben Summerford. (De Looper considered Summerford his greatest mentor.) De Looper continued to live with his brother during his university years and his brother financed his education. He traveled frequently home to visit his parents as well as Dutch art museums. After graduating from American University in 1957, de Looper served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany.
During his tour in Europe, in 1958, he attended the Brussels World's Fair and saw Abstract Expressionist paintings for the first time in the American Pavilion. He traveled as much as he could throughout the continent to see art and collected and studied art magazines and journals. He also married during this time, Lili Mentrop, a childhood friend, but the marriage was brief.
After returning from the Army in 1959, de Looper worked as a museum guard for the Phillips Collection. He claimed that during 1962-1963, he filled a notebook with watercolors influenced by Phillips Collection artists such as Paul Klee, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. He experimented with styles and processes of the Color Field artists (rolling, pouring, and staining with paint.) In the 1960s, he exhibited his work at the Franz Bader Gallery, International Monetary Fund, Society of Washington Artists, and Jefferson Place Gallery.
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