Joost Baljeu

Joost Baljeu was born in Middelburg on 1 November 1925. During World War II (1939–45) he began painting in an expressionist, realistic and semi-abstract idiom. After Cubism he evolved to constructivism. He made his first reliefs in 1954-55. From 1957 to 1972 he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in the Hague.^[2] The Canadian artist Eli Bornstein began to make three-dimensional "structurist" reliefs during a sabbatical in Italy and the Netherlands in 1957.^[3] He met and was influenced by artists such as Jean Gorin, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and Georges Vantongerloo.^[4]

In 1958-59 Baljeu was a guest lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. In 1966 he was visiting professor at the Minneapolis School of Art in the US. He died on 1 July 1991 in Amsterdam.^[2]

• 1965 Zonnehof, Amersfoort
• 1975/1976 Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
• 1979 Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
• 1991 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• 2000 Steel in Picture (group) in Old Slot Heemstede: F19 (model 1986/87)

• The Mondriaan House in Amersfoort
• Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. Two works are part of the museum:
  • Synthetic Construction F5-2 CD (1966/68) and
  • Synthetic Construction F15 No. 1. (1983/87),

The Sculpture F26 1990 was donated to the museum in 1991 by Baljeu's widow.

• Lightning (1955), Wijkcentrum Open Vaart, Meidoornplein in Amsterdam-Noord
• Synthetic construction F8-1B (1978), Plesmanweg, The Hague
• Wall sculpture (1980), police Burg. Wegstapel Square in Zoetermeer (architectural design of colored plexiglass panels in a two-story aluminum construction)
• Synthetic construction F11 (1981), courtyard Vest in Dordrecht - reinstated in 1999
• Synthetic construction F13 (1984), Avenue of the United Nations in Dordrecht - reinstated in 1999
• F26 (1990) in the sculpture park of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo
• Spacetime (I) (1989) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander district
• Spacetime II (restored in 2004) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander

• Mondrian or Miró (1958): book published by De Beuk, Amsterdam
• Structure (1958-1964): editor of a journal on new art
• Attempt at a theory of synthesist plastic expression (1963): book published by Alec Tiranti, London
• Theo van Doesburg (1974): book published by Studio Vista, London

Citations

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Sources