Will Leewens - rare mixed media "puppet show" (1949) from his École de - Sold

• Artist: Leeuwens, Will ( The Hague, 1923 - 1986)
• Presentation: "puppet show" and "geometric abstract"
• Sheet size: 50 x 60cm and 50 x 65cm respectively
• Signed: only the "puppet show" is signed in white (see photo); the pastel is not signed.
• Numbered: N/A
• Date: 1949
• Condition: "Puppet show" in very good condition - the geometric abstract shows significant edge damage (small cracks and paint loss)
  

Will Leewens was born in The Hague in 1923, where he also grew up. He received his first painting lessons during the war from his brother-in-law, the painter Jan Roëde, and his instructor, the painter and poet Willem Schrofer. They worked together in Roëde's studio until the end of the war, from which a close friendship and collegiality with "Will" (a portmanteau of Wil L.) developed. Like Roëde, Will focused on art from Paris, which he visited shortly after the war. He was inspired by the work of Picasso and Matisse, and that of the post-war École de Pais. Gradually, Will began painting colorful, more or less abstract compositions, in which motifs such as still lifes were rendered as completely flat color combinations. At the invitation of Willy Boers, Will briefly became a member of Vrij Beelden in 1946; he participated in exhibitions until 1948. His work was the most abstract of the group, but was also described as 'searching' or 'superficial'. However, he was more active in The Hague, as a member of the Haagsche Kunstenaars Kring and the Pulchri Studio. From 1948 onwards, alongside the carefully balanced and constructed color combinations, more spontaneous, surrealist work emerged, initially featuring whimsical fantasy forms that later developed into fantasy creatures drawn with thin, precise lines. These carefully and precisely painted birds or insect-like animals lived in a colorful, poetic universe, to which titles such as "magic dance" refer. This playful style of Will is strongly related to the work of Klee and Miró. He did, however, remain faithful to abstraction and joined the Liga Nieuw Beelden in 1955. Occasionally he created sculptures, such as an abstract iron sculpture from ca. 1955, and in the sixties he produced various murals. But Will remained best known for his paintings and gouaches with their balanced compositions and colors.