Constant Nieuwenhuys

Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (21 July 1920 – 1 August 2005), better known as Constant, was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, author and musician.

Early period Constant was born in Amsterdam on 21 July 1920 as the first son of Pieter Nieuwenhuijs and Maria Cornelissen. Their second son, Jan Nieuwenhuys, was born a year later. Both sons became artists although their parents had no apparent interest in art.

As a young child Constant drew passionately and showed great talent. He read literature with a special preference for poetry and played musical instruments. During his teenage years he learned to sing and to read music while in the church choir at the Ignatius Gymnasium, a prestigious Jesuit school in Amsterdam. In his later years, greatly inspired by gypsy music, he only played improvised music. He played guitar, violin and at 45 years of age also mastered playing the cimbalon.

Constant painted his first oil painting, De Emmaüsgangers, at age sixteen. It depicted the revelation of Jesus to two of his followers in Emmaus. With no money to buy materials he painted this painting on a jute sugar bag with pigments he had bought from a house painter. Many of Constant's early drawings and paintings are religiously inspired, due to his Jesuit schooling. Yet at the age of twenty Constant turned his back on Catholicism. On 13 July 1942 he married Matie van Domselaer, the daughter of the composer Jakob van Domselaer.

The city of Bergen was evacuated by the Germans in 1943 and so Constant and Matie moved back to Amsterdam. During this period Constant went into hiding and refrained from registering at the Kulturkammer (Nazi Chamber of Culture) to avoid the Arbeitseinsatz (labour supply for the Germans). Because of this he was unable to conventionally exercise his craft or to buy art supplies. To paint Constant used tablecloths and bed linen and had to rinse them out to start again.

During the war Constant's brother in law, Jaap van Domselaer, moved into the apartment to hide from the 'Arbeitseinsatz.' He introduced Constant to Plato, Spinoza, Descartes, Kant, Hegel and Marx. Especially the latter provided great inspiration to Constant regarding his later ideas on art and society.

July 1948 Constant founded Reflex with Corneille, Karel Appel and his brother Jan Nieuwenhuys. The first edition of the magazine Reflex was published with a manifesto written by Constant. For Constant art had to be experimental. He had deducted this from the French word 'expérience' and believed that art springs from experience of the artist and is continuously changing. In the manifesto he stated that the process of creation is more important to the experimental artist than the work itself; it is a means to reach spiritual and mental enrichment. Also, the work of experimental artists is a mirror image of changes in the general perception of beauty.

Constant, Corneille and Appel, three totally different characters and artists, were united in their quest for innovation. They exhibited their work together and were often seen together in the European art scene. The wanderlust of the three is especially notorious.

Later in the year 1948 on the terrace of café Notre Dame in Paris the Experimentele Groep in Holland linked up with Christian Dotremont and Joseph Noiret from Belgium and Asger Jorn from Denmark to form CoBrA, a name which was made by Dotremont, formed by the first letters of their hometowns: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. The members opposed aesthetics in painting and bourgeois art in general.

Constant was productive during the CoBrA period. White Bird (1948), Ladder (1949) and Scorched Earth I (1951) are some of his noted works from this period. At this time CoBrA published bulletin additional artists from several different disciplines joined their ranks. In 1948 Constant, together with poet Gerrit Kouwenaar, published a poetry album Goede Morgen Haan.

In the Liège exhibition in 1951, even larger than the Stedelijk exhibition, the CoBrA group dissolved itself and with its tenth edition bulletin publication. As Christian Dotremont, the international secretary, stated in Museum News in 1962 the group would rather "mourir en beauté" (die in beauty) than become a regular artist interest group.

Constant did not join SI at that time. He objected to the SI on the ground that the movement seemed to be established mainly by artists who have their own interest at heart more than a common goal. When SI openly pleaded for 'unitary urbanism', as defined by Constant and Debord, Constant joined. An intensive correspondence between him and Debord followed. Constant wrote several theoretical articles for the French SI journal and staged events at several museums in Paris as well as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where he showed his New Babylon series in 1959.

The success of the New Babylon show in 1959 prompted SI to plan a group exhibition there in April–May 1960. This exhibition would never take place. Disagreements in the group resulted in a split and several expulsions. In 1960 Constant left the group for the same reason he initially objected to joining. By 1961 no one remained of the original artistic core or tendency except Debord himself.

In Nieuwenhuys' own words: The project of New Babylon only intends to give the minimum conditions for a behaviour that must remain as free as possible. Any restriction of the freedom of movement, any limitation with regard to the creation of mood and atmosphere, has to be avoided. Everything has to remain possible, all is to happen, the environment has to be created by the activity of life, and not inversely.

The New Babylon project consisted of a series of models, constructions, maquettes, collages, drawings, graphics and texts expressing Constant's theories of urban development and social interaction. A few examples of spatial constructions for which he used modern materials like stainless steel, aluminum and perspex are Het Ruimtecircus (1956) (Spatial Circus) and Het Zonneschip (1956) (Sunvessel). Because he lacked room to store the vast collection of constructions, maquettes, maps and structures he sold them all to the museum. In 1999 Constant's New Babylon: City for Another Life, opened at the Drawing Center in New York. It was his first solo exhibition in the United States and was curated by Mark Wigley. There was a symposium conducted in conjunction with the exhibition.

According to the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Nieuwenhuys has made a lot of architects think with his New Babylon: "He was an example of courage".

Colorism Constant returned to painting, watercoloring and graphics in 1969. Until the mid-1970s, the subjects of his imaginary world New Babylon still crowded his work.

In the tradition of the Venetian Renaissance painters, Titian and Tintoretto, Constant applied himself to the technique of colorism. Following this technique the artist doesn't make use of charcoal or pencil sketches but applies colour directly on the canvas with the paintbrush, constructing soft transitions instead of sharp contours. The most important feature of this technique is the way light is expressed in the painting by integrating it into the colour. This technique is laborious. The painting comes to life layer by layer. Constant painted with oil on canvas and every layer he applied then needed to dry. In this period Constant produced a mere three to four paintings per year.

Public space

In 1949 Constant decorated a garden wall in Tibirkelunde, Sjelland, Denmark.

In 1963 The Gate of Constant was placed at the entry of a sports park in the west side of Amsterdam. Constant designed the forty-foot-high concrete structure as a commission for the Municipality of Amsterdam. For almost three decades the structure adorned the entry in anonymity until Rita Doets, a former employee of the municipality, left money in her legacy to construct an information sign next to the gate. Constant's widow, Trudy Nieuwenhuijs, was present at the inauguration.

In 1966 Constant designed a fountain for the Kooiplein in Leiden. For years the structure didn't function and slowly withered. When the square was redesigned in 1999, the fountain was repaired. New equipment made sure that the shoppers were not bothered by the water.

Death Constant died on 1 August 2005 in Utrecht and was survived by his son and his three daughters, and by his widow and her daughter.

Films Gyromorphosis (1958), 7 min - In Gyromorphosis, film maker Hy Hirsh strives to display the kinetic qualities of the New Babylon structures of Constant Nieuwenhuys. One by one he puts parts of the structures in motion and films the details with colored lighting having them overlap each other, appear and disappear. He creates a sensation of acceleration and suspense suggested by the work itself.

Accompanying Simon Vinkenoog to Constant's New Babylon (1962), 15 min - Lies Westenburg visits Constant at his studio with writer Simon Vinkenoog. Simon Vinkenoog and Constant discuss the ideas behind the New Babylon project.

Constant oder der Weg nach New Babylon (1968), 55 min - For ten years Constant worked on his New Babylon project as a reaction to the architectural and social reality. Film maker Carlheinz Caspari follows Constant and his visions.

Cobra, a revolt against order (1986), 50 min - Documentary by Jan Vrijman about the meaning and influence of the COBRA group, then and now.

Constant, Avant le Départ (2005), 82 min - Constant died in the summer of 2005. Thomas Doebele and Maarten Schmidt filmed the artist during the last months of his life. They followed him and his dog, Tikus, on their daily stroll to the artist's studio, where he finished his last painting Le Piège.

New Babylon de Constant (2005), 13 min - New Babylon visually captured by Constant's son Victor Nieuwenhuijs and Maartje Seyfert.

Exhibitions This is an incomplete list of Constant's exhibitions over the years: 1940 at the Aalderink art gallery in Amsterdam (together with Hans Wiesman, first exhibition for Constant) 1947 Santee Landweer art gallery in Amsterdam (first solo exhibition for Constant) 1953 For a spatial colorisme in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Constant with Aldo van Eijck 1956 XXVIII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, Venice 1959 II. Documenta, Kassel 1959 Constant. Constructions and models Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1961 Niw (sic!) Babylon in the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 1964 4. Documenta, Kassel 1964 Académie Royale, Kopenhagen 1964–1965 '45-'85 Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1966 New Babylon at the Biennale of Venice (Constant represented the Netherlands) 1967 New Babylon in Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo 1974 New Babylon, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1974–1975 Constant. An illustration of freedom [drawings 1945-74], Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1978 Constant. Paintings 1969-77, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1980 Constant. Paintings 1940-1980, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1985 Work from the period 1975-1985, Centraal Museum in Utrecht 1985 Arbeiten auf Papier 1948-1985, in Kultur-historischen Museum der Stadt Bielefeldt 1986 Constant 1945-1983, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn 1993 Constant. Drawings, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1994 Constant. Models / Constructions, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 1994–1995 Constant. Œuvreprijs 1994, Chabot Museum, Rotterdam 1996 Constant: paintings 1948-1995, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam & Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum Ålborg 1997 Situacionistes. Art, politica, urbanisme, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) 1998 Constant, etchings and lithographs, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Venezuela 1998–1999 Constant - New Babylon, Witte de With (Centrum voor hedendaagse kunst), Rotterdam 1999 Another City for Another Life: Constant's New Babylon, The Drawing Center, New York 2001 Constant, une rétrospective, Musée Picasso Antibes 2002 Constant. New Babylon, Documenta 11, Platform 5, Kassel Hauptbahnhof 2004 Constant graphic, Cobra Museum 2005–2006 Tribute to Constant, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag 2006 Play! The art of play, Cobra Museum 2008–2009 Constant. In his studio, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 2009 Time as Matter. MACBA collection. New Acquisitions, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona 2009 Intensely Dutch, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia 2011 Klee und Cobra. Ein Kinderspiel, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland 2012 Klee and Cobra. A Child's Play, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek and Cobra Museum

Public collections Constant's artworks can be found in the following public collections.

Dutch museums

Amsterdam Museum (formerly known as Amsterdam's Historical Museum) Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht Centraal Museum, Utrecht Cobra Museum for modern art, Amstelveen Gemeentemuseum Den Haag Groninger museum Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam Rijksmuseum – Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede Stadsgalerij Heerlen Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum Schiedam Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

European museums

Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National dʼart moderne, Paris, France FRAC - le fonds régional dʼart contemporain et architecture de recherche - Orléans, France Krefelder Kunstmusea, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany Kunsthalle in Emden, Germany Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg/Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Denmark Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg, Germany MACBA, Spain Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark Staatliche Museen, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany Tate Gallery, London Tate Modern, London

Museums outside Europe MoAFL, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, US SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, US

Awards This is a list of awards granted to Constant. 1960 Sikkens Award (together with Aldo van Eyck) 1966 Premio Cardazzo at the Venice Biennale 1971 Royal decoration of 'Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau' (refused) 1974 David Röell Award for his work as a draughtsman 1985 Singer Award for his entire body of work 1991 Resistance Award of the Foundation Artist Resistance 1942-1945 1994 Oeuvre Award from Foundation Fund for Fine Arts, Design & Engineering