Heinrich Campendonk was not unknown to me , but my time at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, made me much more aware of the qualities Campendonk had as a painter. Being a member of DER BLAUE REITER made me study his work more than average since i love the works by the artist of this group of painters.
Campendonk was the son of a textile merchant, stopped his textile apprenticeship in 1905. From 1905 – 1909, he received artistic education from Johan Thorn Prikker, a very progressive school for arts and crafts at the time. He became friends with Helmuth Macke, August Macke, Wilhelm Wieger, Franz Marc and Paul Klee during this time. He was born in Krefeld. He was a member of the Der Blaue Reiter group, from 1911 to 1912. When the Nazi regime came to power in 1933, he was among the many modernists condemned as degenerate artists, and prohibited from exhibiting. He moved to the Netherlands, where he spent the rest of his life working at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, first teaching Decorative Art, printmaking and stained-glass, then as the Academy Director.He died as a naturalized Dutchman.
www.ftn-books.com has some nice Campendonk publications available.
