Anton Heyboer tribute by PaulB with kind permission of the HEYBOER MALOMAJO
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ANTON HEYBOER 1924 - 2005
Anton Heyboer was born in 1924 in Sabang, Indonesia. He grew up in Curacao, West Indies.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Heyboer had to work for 7 months in the German labour-camp Prenz Lauerber in Berlin.
In his own words:"The labourcamp was not worse than the parental home and to me society is not worse than both of them; They all lack creativity"
In 1951 Heyboer spent a year in a psychiatric institution in Santpoort. During his stay there he experienced that in his schizophrenia, one half of his personality adopted the form of Christ. Although he was noted to have said that his emotional life stopped before the age of three, he seemed to live in an emotional world of which religious mysticism is the main component.
Heyboer, an autodidact (shut your eyes and draw – the subconscious will do the rest), was first exclusively a graphic artist. The whole process from buying and preparing the basic materials to the actual printing was done by him. He bought the zinc sheets he used, by the meter, “just like any roofer.†These were cut up into smaller pieces, into which he drew his lines with a needle, using all the force he could muster. He mixed his own paints, using few colors, mostly red, ochre, blue or black. Later he also became a painter and sculptor
He gained a name for himself internationally with his early graphic work. His etchings with mystical symbols and stylised figures have been exhibited in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum.
In his own words Heyboer’s art is meant to represent and create the relationships between the individual and society. His art is meant to improve human relationships; it should make one happy. His attitude is one of romance.
Anton Heyboer died on April 9, 2005 in Den Ilp, Netherlands.
ANTON HEYBOER ARTWORKS DATING FROM 1949 TILL 2004
