Atmopsherical work by Willem Kloppers (1937-2014), Kloppers studied at Academy v. B.K. in The Hague (1954-1959) and of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris (1962). He obtained the royal grant in 1960 and 1961 and a scholarship from the French government in 1961. He is known as a painter and sculptor. Special part of his oeuvre are his reliefs on panel, also called matter paintings, which this work is an example of. This style a representative of the international movement known in the 1950s and s60s as Informal Art and more specifically by its technical classification: ‘matter painting’. The origins of this movement lie in the artistic developments in Paris after 1945. This movement developed internationally with the aim of bridging the gap between traditional painting and spatial sculpture. Characteristic of material painting is the relief-like surface and the complex texture of the canvas, created by adding less obvious materials to the thick layers of paint, such as sand, plaster, jute, straw, etc. The combination of paint with these alternative elements can enhance expressiveness, pursue aesthetic goals or refer to primitive art such as the rock paintings. Important figures for this painting style are: Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Alberto Burri, Antoni Tàpies, Bram Bogart, Jaap Wagemaker and E. Schumacher.
Work by Kloppers can be found in the Haags Gemeentemuseum, the Dutch National Collection and the collection of the municipality of Amstelveen.

Abstract drawing, 1960s?, signed front.
Medium: mixed media on board
Provenance: Private collection, NL