Carel Visser

Dutch sculptor and wood-engraver, born in Papendrecht, near Rotterdam. Made his first sculpture in 1947. After studying architecture at Delft 1948-9, studied at the Academy in The Hague 1949-51. Visited England (the British Museum) and France in 1951. Settled in Amsterdam 1952. Made drawings from plants and insects in 1952, followed by very stylised sculptures of birds in galvanised iron 1953-4. First one-man exhibition at the Kunsthandel Martinet, Amsterdam, 1954. Afterwards turned to making abstract sculptures constructed out of simple rectangular slab-like elements, usually either with a symmetrical structure or based on systematic logical divisions. Visited the USA as visiting professor at Washington University, St Louis in 1962, Sardinia and Mexico on Italian and Dutch government scholarships in 1957 and 1965. Awarded a David E. Bright Prize at the 1968 Venice Biennale. In 1969 began to use sheet metal instead of solid iron blocks; created more open sculptures, sometimes with stacked and folded forms. Lives in Amsterdam.

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.749-50