Cornelis zitman biography

Biographies: Cornelis Zitman

Bio

Born in Leyden, Zuid province, Holland, in 1926. In 1943 he enters the Leyden Fine Arts academy attending night drawing courses, continuing them at the la Hague Fine Arts Academy. In 1947 decided not to join the army in Holland, moves to Venezuela; first in Maracaibo. In 1948 moves to Coro. In 1951 he establishes a small furniture factory in Caracas and begins in sculpting his first work ‘Sat woman’ In 1955 begins teaching in drawing at the architecture and urban planning at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. In 1958 he moves to Grenada for a short time. In 1961 he moves back to Holland. Via Boston taking part in a painting and design show. In 1964 works at the Pieter Starreveldt Foundry, Holland and finally returns to Venezuela.

In 1965 he settles in the Hacienda la Trinidad sugar mill ruin, near Baruta. In 1970 the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas edits the book ‘ Cornelis Zitman’, related to his first exhibition in the country.

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Cornelis Zitman was born in 1926 into a family of builders. At the age of 15, he started studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. His studies terminated in 1947; he then refused to enroll in the required military service objecting to the Dutch political activities in Indonesia and thus left the country aboard a Swedish oil tanker that would take him to Venezuela.

He settled in the city of Coro, where he found employment as a technical draftsman in a construction company. He began to paint in his free time and make his first forays into the field of sculpture. Two years later, he moved to Caracas, where he worked as a furniture designer for a factory of which he would later become the director. In the early 1950s, Zitman, in partnership with the engineer Antonio Carbonell went on to create Tecoteca, his furniture manufacturing company. The exceptional curation of what Cornelis J. Zitman produced in the years he designed and manufactured furniture offered an insight into the manufacturing of modern furniture in Venezuela, which is still very much being

Cornelis Zitman

Born in Leiden in a family of builders, he enters the Fine Arts Academy of Hague at age 15. After completing his studies in 1947, he refuses to fulfill military service due to his disapproval of Dutch policies in Indonesia and leaves the country on board of a Swedish tanker that takes him to Venezuela. 

He settles in Coro, where he finds a job as a technical drawer in a construction company. In his spare time, he paints and carries out his first sculptures. Two years later he moves to Caracas, where he works as a furniture designer for a factory of which he will eventually become director. In 1951, he is awarded with the National Prize for Sculpture. He starts teaching design at the Central University of Venezuela while he keeps on drawing and painting. In 1958 he exhibits a series of paintings and drawings at the Contemporary Art Gallery of Caracas. He decides to quit his business life and moves to the island of Grenada, where he devotes his entire time to painting and begins to consolidate his craft as a sculptor.

In 1961, he travels to Boston to partic

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