Henri van Bentum
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Henri van Bentum, b. Netherlands, August 13, 1929 Henri van Bentum is a painter and colorist based in Victoria, British Columbia He works in oil, acrylic, watercolour, chinese ink and watercolour pencil. van Bentum’s work is known for its luminosity and radiance.
The artist experienced an early, meteoric rise in his career, featuring solo exhibitions in Mexico City, Toronto and Paris. Following this period van Bentum removed himself from the mainstream art scene and began a nomadic life which took him to every corner of the globe. Without a studio he was able to continue painting by working on a small scale in pointillism. http://www.vanbentum.org/
Early Years
Henri van Bentum (b. August 13, 1929) began painting in the early 1950’s during a long period of illness in a tuberculosis sanatorium, “Zonnestraal”, Netherlands. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatorium_Zonnestraal
In October 1957 van Bentum emigrated to Canada. He became a member of the Colour & Form Society in 1959. http://www.colourandformsociety.com. That same year a doctor sponsored a journey to the Canadian Rockies. On field trips to remote areas in Banff and Yoho National Parks, van Bentum painted mountain scenes in oil and oil pastel before attending the Banff School of Fine Arts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banff_Centre as their first-ever guest student.
There he studied under Murray MacDonald, William Townsend (Slade School of Fine Art, UK), Charles Stegeman and Walter Phillips. That summer van Bentum won three awards, including a scholarship, first prize in oil painting, and the purchase award for the school’s permanent collection.
Signs of change in his work became evident at the end of his stay in Banff. Recognizing van Bentum’s interest in abstraction, two of his teachers at Banff (Murray McDonald and William Townsend) suggested he look up the artist and teacher J.W.G. (“Jock”) Macdonald http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jock_Macdonald in Toronto.
Meeting with Jock Macdonald
The meeting with Jock Macdonald took place at the Ontario College of Art http://www.ocad.ca/ocad_home.htm where van Bentum had enrolled in Foundation year in the autumn of 1959 in order to study with Macdonald (composition, still life).
Through Jock Macdonald’s encouragement, first at school and later as a private student, the artist evolved further towards a more surreal fantasy world of self-expression, mostly inspired by music and poetry.
Quote from van Bentum on the teaching of Jock Macdonald:
“He had the ability to draw out what was best in students. It was as if he carried a little vial of oil and by putting a small drop onto the flame one had burning within oneself to bring things out which one wanted to express but felt inadequate or incapable of doing. This is a great gift. He made you question the nature of creativity itself. (van Bentum, interviewed by Joan Murray for the exhibition “Jock Macdonald’s Students”, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.)
Although mostly self-taught, it was Jock Macdonald who encouraged him to paint while listening to music.
Colour & Form Society
During this period in Toronto in the early 1960’s van Bentum became President of the Colour & Form Society, a group of immigrant artists who exhibited every spring at the Hart House Gallery, University of Toronto.
Exhibition in Mexico City
The artist lived in Mexico (San Miguel de Allende) and in 1963 held an exhibition of watercolours at Gallery Mizrachi, Mexico City.
Back in Canada - Early Exhibition of Abstract Watercolours
In 1963 van Bentum exhibited his lyrical, abstract watercolours done in Mexico at the First Unitarian Church.
“Ideas such as unpretentious dignity, space and the emotions it gives, mutations, movements, love of light, mysteries of the dark – these are beautifully painted and in a kind of honour to sanity that is rare enough.” Pearl McCarthy, Globe & Mail
In a “Canadian Art” 1967 magazine feature, Marina Sturdza wrote:
“Perhaps his background as a diamond-facetter’s son is responsible for the almost crystalline precision often evident. The single most extraordinary quality in all his paintings is an incredible luminosity, a radiance that emanates from within. Words cannot describe the exhilaration generated by the exuberance of form and colour of these paintings.
Through these works, the viewer is transported into a never-never land of colour, a chari-vari of kaleidoscopic shapes that quite literally boggle the imagination”. Canadian Interiors Magazine First Major Solo Exhibition, Roberts Gallery
During his first one-man show at Toronto’s Roberts Gallery in February 1965, Globe and Mail art critic Kay Kritzwiser wrote:
“These watercolours sing out from the wall like an anthem to any season but winter. van Bentum is obviously a man who has looked into, rather than at his world.” Globe & Mail
Evolution Continues
Following the success of his show at Roberts Gallery, the artist explored new vistas and techniques.
In 1965 he concentrated on works in acrylic on canvas. Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, Dr. Robert P. Welsh wrote:
“These (acrylics on canvas) show the free-flowing style and clarity of his earlier watercolours, yet the quasi-subconscious world of imagined forms, and spatial, music-like nebulae which provides his formal artistic vocabulary is more self-assured and more strongly expressed.
van Bentum’s personal style is characterized by a lyrical flow of loosely defined forms; his technique by an approach to brushwork suggestive of the wash effects of watercolour when the medium was oil or acrylic .
This easily-identifiable personal style served to express the mystical, subconscious worlds of imagined forms and spatial nebulae which provided his formal artistic vocabulary.”
First Prize, Art Gallery of Ontario OSA Exhibition
This same year, 1966, van Bentum won First Prize at the annual Ontario Society of Artists http://www.ontariosocietyofartists.org exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Solo Exhibition in Paris, May 1966
van Bentum’s first one-man show in Paris at Galerie Cazanave was featured in TIME Magazine. The exhibition was opened by Jules Leger, Canada’s Ambassador to France and later Governor-General of Canada.
In a full-page article with colour reproductions, in May 1966 TIME wrote:
“The brightness that leaps from his canvasses is that of crystals seen through a microscope.”
Leading International Critic reviews Paris exhibition
Renowned international art critic, Michel Seuphor (who had been among the first to recognize Mondriaan) wrote in L’Express, May 1966:
“At present there is an exhibition at Galerie Cazanave (rue de la Boetie) by Henri van Bentum, a young Canadian artist of European origin. His work reveals techniques and vistas hereunto unknown or seen.”
Back in Canada, 1967
The artist’s second solo exhibition at Roberts Gallery, in 1967 “revealed a significant turning to white canvas. One noticed a focus on untouched space, yet all the brilliance of colour is still there. Even the blank “holes” ruthlessly let into the swirling colour have their own glow.” Kay Kritzwiser, Globe & Mail
Pioneer of Artists in the Schools Program
van Bentum was one of the first professional artists to work with the Toronto School Board on their pioneering Artists in the Schools program.
Nomadic Lifestyle Influences New Forms in His Art
van Bentum continued his travels including extensive expeditions to many remote regions of the world including return visits to India, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), Burma and also to South America.
This nomadic lifestyle, combined with a lack of means, created the circumstances whereby he was unable to paint canvasses or large watercolours. In Toronto during the 1960’s the artist lived in twenty different dwelling places.
Ecology and Art
His concern for environmental issues goes back many years to his time in the Netherlands. This awareness encouraged him to work on a small scale and hence conserve raw materials.
Thus in the early 1970’s, the artist embarked on a new path: a pointillist style of small works on paper which enabled him to continue translating his energy and ideas under any circumstances or conditions.
“ORGANIVERSE” Portfolio
The artist’s work “ORGANIVERSE”, was created in 1972 while living in Morocco south of Marrakesh, in a region of the Atlas Mountains, and later Essaouira.Essaouria “Organiverse”, done in pointillism, was completed on the island of Madeira the same year.
The “Organiverse Portfolio” is composed of 25 pages, each with four spheres or mandalas 7 ½ cm in diameter.
Dr. Robert P. Welsh, in a Letter of Appraisal for the Canada Council, was asked in 1976 to indicate “whether the artist’s work was Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent or Exceptional”:
“I frankly find it more difficult to choose between “Exceptional” and “Excellent” for an artist than I do for a university student. I therefore prefer to beg the distinction by saying “Excellent” compared to artists such as Vermeer and Matisse; “Exceptional” if judged within the present Canadian context.”
“Organiverse” Made Into 35mm Film
In 1974, filmmaker Julius Kohanyi, who worked under Stanley Kubrick, was commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council to make an experimental 35mm colour & sound film based on “Organiverse”. Soundtrack was composed and performed by Nexus. The film, titled “H – A” was shown at international film festivals including Chicgo, Moscow-Karlovy and Berlin.
Teaching Art Aboard Ships
The artist dreamed up the idea of teaching art on ocean liners, and was the first-ever guest Artist and Lecturer on board two inaugural world cruises of Royal Viking Line. This was before the days of Enrichment Programs which are now common on board all passenger ships.
Return to Banff, 1980-85
The artist returned to Banff in 1980 after many years of travel --- including two voyages teaching art and lecturing around the world on ships as guest artist and lecturer. He lived on the campus of The Banff Centre where his wife Natasha was employed as assistant to the President.
The abstract beauty and primordial power of the Rocky Mountains were a rich source of contact for the artist. All this contributed to a body of new watercolours, “Spatial Rhythms”, created in their small apartment on campus.
Further West to Vancouver, 1985
In December 1985 the van Bentum’s left the Rocky Mountains and returned to British Columbia. During the Vancouver years, the artist resumed his travels and made expeditions to Antarctica (South Georgia), Galapagos, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Fiji, Easter Island and made annual trips to Mexico. His wife Natasha joined Greenpeace International in 1990 and was based in the Vancouver office.
When not travelling, the artist consolidated his writings including children’s stories, essays and aphorisms.
Move to Victoria, B.C. and new developments with “Organiverse”
Not long after van Bentum moved his base to Victoria on the west coast of British Columbia in mid-2004, he completed a collaboration with Hewlett Packard to create a limited edition reproduction of the “Organiverse” Portfolio.
Although the original work was created in 1972, it was not until recently that digitization and scanning techniques evolved to a point where a fair reproduction could be achieved. Hewlett Packard made twenty sets of the “Organiverse Portfolio”.
Creation of Organiverse Handsets
In 2006 van Bentum embarked on a new collaboration, with poet and fractal artist Richard Rudhyar, on the creation of individual handsets (100 cards) of the complete “Organiverse Portfolio”. Rudhyar designed a wooden container box to highlight the Organiverse image rotation. van Bentum and Rudhyar then collaborated with a west coast woodworker, Phil Makin, to build variations of this container box made from recovered wood. http://www.viwg.com/wood_recovery.htm
-30- Henri van Bentum is also a member of the international Circumnavigators Club http://www.CircumnavigatorsClub.org, and speaks 6 languages.
