Biography
Dirk van Gelder (b. Scheveningen, Netherlands 1907 - d. 1990), whose father, Hendrik Enno van Gelder (1876 - 1960), was the director of the Haagse Gemeentemuseum (now the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag) from 1912 to 1941, was only eighteen when he made his first lithographs, inspired by Theo van Hoytema (1863-1917). In 1929 he went to Sicily for the first time in 1929 and produced landscape drawings featuring rocky coasts, mountain ravines and almond and lemon groves which he used for his etchings. He also priduced still lifes of fruits, animal skulls or dead birds in a woodland or garden setting. And, when he moved to Veere in Zeeland in 1938, he discovered aquatic subjects in the form of shells, crabs and sea anemones from whcih he made wood-engravings. He also gained a reputation as a designer of stationery such as bookplates and letterheads, and as an illustrator of books such as Herman Gorter’s poem Mei. In 1952 he was appointed to teach etching at The Hague’s Royal Academy of Art (KABK), a post he was to hold until 1971. He later set up the Haagse Etsclub (Hague etching club) which produced and published portfolios of etchings.
