Constant Nieuwenhuys

Constant, Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys actually ( born July 21, 1920 in Amsterdam, † August 1, 2005 in Utrecht ) was a Dutch painter and sculptor.

Life and work

After studying at the School of Art and at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, Constant lived from 1946 in Paris and London. In Paris he met Asger Jorn, with whom he founded the artists' group CoBrA 1948. In the same year he founded with Karel Appel and Jan Nieuwenhuys the Nederlands Experimentele Groep. From 1957 to 1959 he was a member of the International Situationists. Under this influence he studied architecture and developed 1959-1969 the utopian project New Babylon, the design of an infrastructure for a post-industrial society of neo -nomadic homines ludentes as an alternative to the " utilitarian " society of the present. The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas called Constant as one of his biggest influences.

In 1959, Constant was at the documenta II and represented at the next documenta III (1964 ) in Kassel. Constant representing the Netherlands at the 1966 Venice Biennale. He introduced in Germany, among other things in the Gallery van de Loo and Haus Lange Museum in Krefeld. 1986 showed the Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn a retrospective. With New Babylon Constant, 2002 was again presented at Documenta 11. Of his works can be seen in the Cobra Museum.