Harrie van Rosmalen - Original etching - Sold

Awarded by the Schola Cantorum "Our Lady".

Hakkie van Rosmalen was a well-known artist from Den Bosch. He made murals and stained glass windows, among other things. He was also responsible for sixteen statues of the nativity scene of St. John.
Henricus Josephus Maria van Rosmalen was born in 1923 in Den Bosch. He was actually called Harrie, but because he could not pronounce the letter 'r' as a child, it became Hakkie and that name stuck. After primary school he went to the gymnasium at the minor seminary Beekvliet. The intention was that van Rosmalen would become a priest and after Beekvliet the major seminary Haaren followed.
During his education, Van Rosmalen was already busy making pen drawings. He also came from a family where art played an important role. His father was the owner of Kunsthandel Borzo and the young Hakkie himself was always drawing and painting. In the end, he did not become a priest, but went to the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. There he was taught by Campendonck (monumental painting) and Röling (free painting), among others. During that period, he already made several paintings and stained glass windows on commission. He did not really belong to a specific art movement, because he wanted to be free in his artistic expressions.
Although life as an artist was not always easy, he was able to make a living from it. He worked a lot on commission and made both monumental works and free works that can be admired at home and abroad. In the late seventies he made eighteen statues for the renovated nativity scene in the Sint-Janskathedraal in Den Bosch. In 1993 Van Rosmalen received the Albert Swaneprijs. According to the jury because he is 'an artist with integrity' and 'because he has managed to extend his youth for seventy years now'.
In 1960 Hakkie van Rosmalen married Ria Janssens. The couple had two sons. He continued to draw and paint until old age. On 20 May 2001 he died at the age of 78 in his house on the Koningsweg in Den Bosch.