Barend Blankertartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanKampen 1941-2023 Amsterdam

Barend Blankert spent his youth in Kampen and Sneek. After his education at the National Normal School for the Training of Drawing Teachers in Amsterdam, he taught for several years at the Frisian Applied Arts School Vredeman-de Vries in Leeuwarden and from 1971 to 1992 at the Minerva Academy in Groningen. Blankert belonged to the 'new' figuratives in the 1960s and became known for his work on paper, drawn with a pen in Indian ink and colored with watercolor. From the 1970s onwards he was one of the most important Dutch hyper- or photorealists. His work includes buildings, still lifes, landscapes and figures, meticulously painted in the 17th century glazing technique. The human figure, usually depicted turned away from the viewer, occupies an important place in his realistic work. Blankert depicts them in their own silent emotional world, locked in their own thoughts.