Cees Bantzinger - Watercolor, 4 portraits of people - Sold

Cees Bantzinger was a Dutch painter, illustrator, and comic artist. He was born in Gouda and attended the art academy in Amsterdam, where he developed an interest in drawing from live models. He subsequently trained at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts and spent some time in the Montparnasse district of Paris. He traveled through Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, where he absorbed influences from the Bauhaus movement. Meanwhile, in 1936, he began his career as an illustrator at De Groene Amsterdammer. Together with Eppo Doeve and Jo Spier, he became one of the country's best-known illustrators for daily and weekly newspapers. During World War II, Bantzinger worked for the underground press alongside Bert Bakker and Fokke Tamminga. They formed the Mansarde Press, which also attracted writers such as Bertus Aafjes, Ab Visser, and Ferdinand Borderwijk. During this period, Bantzinger also created a comic strip called 'Knobbel' for the magazine De Narrenkap. After the war, Bantzinger became known for his portraits of actors and actresses in theaters. His visual art also frequently depicted Chinese people and women. He created illustrations for publications such as Elseviers Weekblad, Vrij Nederland, Mandril, and Het Vrije Volk. Bantzinger was an avid traveler and made many trips to Greece, Portugal, and France, where he made drawings of local residents and court scenes. His wife was the Dutch singer Jetty Pearl, who had been one of the voices of Radio Oranje during the war. Three works are signed, one is not, or is signed under the passe-partout.