Jef Diederen - linocut - 1991

Diederen, Jozef. August 25, 1920 (Heerlen) – March 26, 2009 (Amsterdam). Watercolorist, collagist, glass painter, graphic designer, wood engraver, illustrator, lithographer, monumental artist, painter, draftsman, textile artist, woodcut maker, muralist. Education: Secondary School of Applied Arts Maastricht (1939-1943), Royal Academy of Visual Arts Amsterdam (1943-1944, 1947-1951). Active in: Heerlen, Brunssum, Amstenrade, South Limburg (1943-1947), Amsterdam (1947-2002), Cividale del Friuli (1949), La Ciotat (1954), Krakow (1956), Warsaw (1956), Udine (1956), Venice (1956), La Spezia (1958), Florence (1958), Siena (1958). Prizes: Royal subsidy (1948-1948, 1950, 1959), Talens Award (1958). Jef Diederen is considered one of the post-war painters also known as the Amsterdam Limburgers. The character of his work is lyrical-abstract. The Lyrical Expressionist style developed in the Netherlands in the 1950s alongside the Cobra movement. Diederen painted lyrical, colorful works on the border of figuration and abstraction, strongly influenced by the Cobra style. Diederen's paintings, works on paper, and graphic art show an openness in color, form, and line. He painted and drew about major political issues: the Vietnam War, the oppression of Palestinians and Native Americans, and the Second World War and the persecution of Jews. In a mysterious way, he manages to convey his emotion and transmits the powerlessness and great injustice to the viewer.