Jan Cremer - Kleurrijke zeefdruk - 1996 - Sold

Colorful screen print by Jan Cremer from 1996. Edition: 11/200. The work is signed and dated by the artist in pencil lower right. Dimensions top: H79 x W56cm. Dimensions of the presentation: H68 x W51cm. The authenticity of the work offered is fully guaranteed. A certificate of authenticity can be emailed upon request.

Jan Cremer (Enschede, 20 April 1940) is a Dutch writer and visual artist. Jan Cremer is best known for the novel Ik, Jan Cremer from 1964 and Ik Jan Cremer, second book from 1966. His second book has sometimes been compared to On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Cremer has a keen ear for vulgar, humorous language and an eye for the absurd side of the American glamor world, which makes him related to Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Nathanael West, especially in Ik, Jan Cremer Derde Boek and Made in USA.

Lifecycle
Jan Cremer was educated at the art academies of Arnhem and The Hague, where he lived in Annastraat.

Cremer's literature and visual arts show striking similarities. Both focus on breaking away from traditional aesthetics and age-old cultural baggage, as the following quotes[1] illustrate:

"I don't read, I am read."
"Rembrandt? Who is that? I don't understand sports."

Jan Cremer with his book I, Jan Cremer (1964)
Both quotes reveal his ability to shock or at least draw attention and sell himself as a gutsy guy with demonstrable talent (cf. James Dean): experiencing culture as a burden fits into this picture. Ik Jan Cremer in particular, but also his 'peinture barbarism', comparable to that of Karel Appel, shocked. Actions such as hanging a ticket for fl 1,000,000 on a painting (he was only 18 years old at the time) and honking loudly past the book ball have made him an enfant terrible of Dutch visual arts and literature.

The literary relevance of Cremer's work is mainly embodied in Ik Jan Cremer. Central to this is the liberation from the ideals of the 1950s. It foreshadows free sex and the wild 1960s. This explains why Cremer was also widely read outside the Netherlands. This too was criticized. Questions in the House of Representatives were asked about the book, it was called fascist and football hooligans were accused of "Jan Cremerism".

Cremer himself contributed a lot to this, because he saw the commercial possibilities of it. When a zealous policeman in Hengelo confiscated copies of Ik Jan Cremer in early 1964, statements of support from concerned parents appeared in several newspapers. They turned out to be all written by Jan Cremer.

Cremer is portrayed by Remco Campert in his novella Tjeempie! Or Liesje in Luiletterland parsed as the Predator, as one of the modern writers who goes to visit Liesje. In it, Cremer is described as an aggressive mourner for whom everyone crawls into the dust. He knows it's about "munnie in the pokkut and a bebie in bed", and instead of a car, he has a golden helicopter. Of all modern writers he is characterized as the worst: "he is not a man but a beast".

In 1999 the collection of short stories De Venus van Montparnasse was published, a collection of a dozen literary reports from Cremer's journalistic repertoire.

On November 30, 2000, he was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

In his book The Huns, Cremer strongly criticizes the government in London during the occupation in World War II, which called for the railway strike in 1944. According to him, this strike actually caused the Hunger Winter, because it prevented food from the northern parts of the country (including potatoes from Groningen) being transported to the large cities in the starving west of the country.


Jan Cremer (2017)
From 10 to 27 June 2013, Cremer had more than a thousand works of art, photographs, letters and other personal documents and objects in his possession auctioned.

In 2020, the Frans Banninck Cocq Medal was awarded to him. The medal is awarded to Amsterdammers who have made a special contribution to, for example, the cultural field. Deputy Mayor Rutger Groot Wassink called Cremer 'a pastor and an advocate of the free Amsterdam as we know it today and where everyone is welcome'.

When purchasing, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague
(Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The deadline for the
pick up, with advance payment, is very spacious, in other words the buyer can do the work for weeks or even
pick it up months later and if possible combine it with a visit to one of the
above mentioned towns or the beach. We can also ship the work. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.