Daan Bekking (Dan. Bekking)

Biography

 Daniel Wilhelm Bekking (Dan. Bekking), born Januari 8th, 1906 in Haarlem, The Netherlands, passed away September 4th, 1973 in Amsterdam, studied at the 'Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen' (Academy of Depicting Art and Modern Sciences) in Rotterdam, after a high-school education in The Hague.
Upon completion of his studies he settled in Paris, where he belonged to a group of young impressionists formed around the painters Dunoyer de Ségonzac, Othon Friesz, Thévenet, Osterlind, Derain, Gromaire and the Dutchman Conrad Kickert, with whom he was intimate friends.
He had many portrait assignments in Paris and had exhibits at, amongst others, the "Salon des Indépendants" (Chairman: Paul Signac) and the very select "Salon des Tuileries" (Chairman Othon Friesz).
In 1939 Daan Bekking got stuck in the Netherlands, where he was for delivery of some paintings to Dutch buyers, being tied down by some portrait assigments. The last train after the German hostilities started with the allies got him to the French border. From there he had to return to the Netherlands, leaving behind all his possessions and work in his Paris studio. After the war none of this was recovered.
He managed to get known in the Netherlands in a short time: between his activities as a painter he trained many students of the Fine Arts and from 1945 to 1964 he was the secretary and later chairman of the Independants.
He was often requested to hold lectures on art, both in the Netherlands and abroad. His exhibits however were mostly held outside the Netherlands (France, Switserland, Germany, Sweden).
He was a real 'painter'; i.e. he prefered working with oilpaint, but also made watercolours and drawings. In his work there's a clear development from 'Fauve' to 'lyrical expressionist'. Fauvism, expressionism, impressionism, naturalism, symbolism, cubism, surrealism, futurism are all facets of the versatile human mind and not bound to any period. They exist next to eachother and every artist, be it painter, sculptor, writer or composer choses the direction that suits him best.
The name 'Fauves' (Litt: Wild animals) was first used by a French art critic as a mockery - as were the stylenames 'gothic' and 'impressionism' - for a number of painters (Matisse, Derain, Friesz, Vlaminck, Dufy...) who used colour and form to achieve the ultimate expression. Often ignoring realistical details. It was, as a matter of fact, a huge attack of colour as means of expression. The antecedents of this movement were, amongst others, set by Vincent van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne.
'Fauvism' with its bright colours, started in France and can be mentioned in the same breath with expressionism, which originated in Germany. The expressionists, like fauvists, use bright, unnatural, feeling-driven colour schemes. Expressionism is the window for inner truth.
Fauvists and expressionists are also idealists, who oppose the materialistic, mindless and cruel reality of this world, which is in sharp contrast with their dreamt ideals. They don't look for reality, but for 'everlasting truth', hidden beneath what the eye perceives. They know that it's impossible to express reality, because no two human beings experience the same thing in the same manner. To them, the image of the world lives within them. That's why their art is the expression of their soul. This was the avenue that Daan Bekking, according to his inner self, had to go and he stayed loyal to it until he died, because he wanted to stay true to himself. He loved all things beautiful, both in life and in art: painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature. He loved life itself in all its forms and aspects. He loved people, sometimes great men, and the many poor souls, beggars, clochards in Paris, the homeless, the miserable, the poor. He loved the skilled professional, he loved the farmer and the unending cycle of birth and death, the shepherds on the barren, unhospitable plains of France and Spain. He loved nature itself, of which his many landscapes and tree studies are a witness; animals, that he studied and drew relentlessly. He loved the dream and escaped, in mind as well as reality, the evil doings and banalities of this world. In the seclusion of his studio or along in the freedom of nature, he made his love for all that lived a reality through his work. For this he used his own language: that of a 'lyrical expressionist', a painter, and a poet, trying to link the impossible dream of beauty with reality as we know it.
C.A.H. Bekking-van Opijnen.