John Wortel

JOHN WORTEL (Germany, 1941-2018)
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower area.
Measurements: 45 x 80 cm; 47 x 82 cm (frame).
John Wortel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, draftsman and printmaker whose artistic production is characterized by a silent and rigorous research on line, rhythm and space. Trained between 1959 and 1964 at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, he studied under masters such as C. G. Roelofsz, G. V. A. Röling, O. de Kat and S. C. Schröder, developing from early on a plastic language far removed from the dominant trends of his time.
In an era marked by a rapid succession of artistic movements and currents, Wortel's work remained deliberately aloof from the more spectacular gestures of modernity. His practice was based on an artisanal conception of art, based on technical precision and a restrained exploration of formal resources. This discreet attitude meant that for years his work remained relatively marginalized from the major critical circuits, although in 1983 the Centraal Museum devoted a retrospective exhibition to his production, constituting the first comprehensive study of his career.