Jan Poortenaarartist • painter • printmakerAmsterdam 1886-1958 Naarden

From his youth Johan Ponsioen wanted to become a painter. At the insistence of his parents, however, he trained as a teacher, a profession that he would continue to practice throughout his working life. In addition, he developed into a successful painter with a considerable oeuvre. His early work has an academic, impressionistic style. Ponsioen's most famous paintings are the portraits and still lifes in realistic style that he made between 1934 and 1947. With his work from this period, he sought to connect with the magical realism of contemporaries such as Dick Ket, Pyke Koch, Raoul Hynckes and Carel Willink. In addition to paintings and drawings, he also worked as a graphic artist and monumental artist.