Jean-Paul Vroom

Jean-Paul Vroom was born in The Hague in 1922 and received his education first from his father and from 1938 at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in his home town. After he had to leave the academy in 1939 because of disciplinary problems, first exhibitions followed, among others with the group The Hague. Influences during these years were the style of the Bauhaus, New Realism and Surrealism. During the Second World War, Jean-Paul Vroom joined the Resistance and reached Paris in 1943 via Spain, where he was imprisoned. There he took part in a group exhibition and from 1944 he continued his training in engraving techniques at the École Supérieure des Arts et Industries Graphiques (ESAIG). In 1946 his first illustrations of literary works appeared, among them the complete works of Charles Baudelaire. Important exhibitions in Amsterdam (1949) and Strasbourg (1952) followed. From 1954 he created stage designs in Italy, and in the 1960s he developed a keen interest for photography and film. 1970 he started his close collaboration with Hans van Manen with the ballet »Situation«, whose works Jean-Paul Vroom shaped over many years with his designs. In 2006 the artist died in Amsterdam.