Joop Willems - Ets, Vissers aan het netten boeten. - Sold

Johannes (Joop) Wilhelmus Maria Willems (Nijmegen, December 10, 1915 - Amsterdam, October 10, 1989) was a Dutch painter, art teacher, watercolorist and etcher, who made landscapes, still lifes, portraits and also cityscapes of Amsterdam. Joop Willems was born in Nijmegen in a large Catholic family; his father was a gas fitter. He learned the trade of house and decoration painter. He developed an artistic interest, partly because some of his colleagues in the decoration trade spent their breaks outside painting, in which Joop participated. Outdoor painting really appealed to him and he soon followed courses in painting and drawing, in addition to his paid work. In 1937 he decided to quit his job and go to Amsterdam where he was first accepted at the evening course of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten; he closed this in 1942. In 1940 he already became a member of the Amsterdam artists' association 'De Independents' and shared various studios in the city with other colleagues.