Joost Baljeu

Joost Baljeu (1 November 1925 – 1 July 1991) was a Dutch painter, sculptor and writer. He is known for his large outdoor painted steel structures.

Life
Joost Baljeu was born in Middelburg on 1 November 1925. During World War II (1939–45) he began painting in an expressionist, realistic and semi-abstract idiom. After Cubism he evolved to constructivism. He made his first reliefs in 1954-55. From 1957 to 1972 he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in the Hague. The Canadian artist Eli Bornstein began to make three-dimensional "structurist" reliefs during a sabbatical in Italy and the Netherlands in 1957. He met and was influenced by artists such as Jean Gorin, Joost Baljeu, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and Georges Vantongerloo.

In 1958-59 Baljeu was a guest lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. In 1966 he was visiting professor at the Minneapolis School of Art in the US. He died on 1 July 1991 in Amsterdam.

Exhibitions

 * 1965 Zonnehof, Amersfoort
 * 1975/1976 Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
 * 1979 Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
 * 1991 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
 * 2000 Steel in Picture (group) in Old Slot Heemstede: F19 (model 1986/87)

Museums

 * The Mondriaan House in Amersfoort
 * Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. Two works are part of the museum:
 * Synthetic Construction F5-2 CD (1966/68) and
 * Synthetic Construction F15 No. 1. (1983/87),
 * The Sculpture F26 1990 was donated to the museum in 1991 by Baljeu's widow.

Public spaces

 * Lightning (1955), Wijkcentrum Open Vaart, Meidoornplein in Amsterdam-Noord
 * Synthetic construction F8-1B (1978), Plesmanweg, The Hague
 * Wall sculpture (1980), police Burg. Wegstapel Square in Zoetermeer (architectural design of colored plexiglass panels in a two-story aluminum construction)
 * Synthetic construction F11 (1981), courtyard Vest in Dordrecht - reinstated in 1999
 * Synthetic construction F13 (1984), Avenue of the United Nations in Dordrecht - reinstated in 1999
 * F26 (1990) in the sculpture park of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo
 * Spacetime (I) (1989) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander district
 * Spacetime II (restored in 2004) in Rotterdam, Prince Alexander

Publications

 * In 1958 Baljeu published Mondrian and Miró (published by Edition de Beek in Amsterdam)
 * From 1958 to 1964 he was responsible for the international journal Structure, a stage for the geometric abstract art.
 * From 1958 to 1962 he worked on the monograph Theo van Doesburg (published by Vista, London in 1974).