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Biography
In
excess of 30 years of great art.
Welcome to the world of Master-Painter-Still Life- Jos
Kivits,
Painter
of magnificent neo-Classic landscapes and sumptuous still life’s
in the manner of the sixteenth and seventeenth century Dutch and
Flemish old masters.
Born
in
Eindhoven
, the
Netherlands
, September 1945., Jos, ( christened, Jozef,
Wilhelmus, Henrikus, Cornelis. ) was the youngest of five
children. He is a descendant of
a well established Dutch
family, the roots of which can be traced back to the early
thirteenth century. His immediate family have been recognized as
successful merchants dating back to the early 1800’s.
Despite
early leanings towards becoming an industrial-chemist,
architectural draughts-man, textile merchant, even a brief desire
to enter into theology, art was his siren call. Jos simply could
not stay away from it. Having shown an early interest in the
subject he took serious lessons from the age of ten and completed
his first oil painting at age 12.
A
student at the Dutch “Kunstnijverheid” school in
Eindhoven
in the 1960’s Jos continued his “indepth”
studies in the 1970’s and 1980’s under the tutelage of the
renowned living Dutch artist. Cornelis Le Mair. This association
led to Jos receiving the highly coveted diploma of “ Master
Artist – Still Life” from the
Academy
of
Fine Arts
,
Antwerp
,
Belgium
, in 1989. The collaboration continued with
visits by Cornelis Le Mair to the artist’s studios in
New Zealand
and
Sydney
,
Australia
.
During
the 1960’s and 70’s Jos researched the techniques used and
perfected by the
Dutch Old Masters. A long forgotten technique originally developed
by the Van Eyck brothers in the 15th century, This
involves the application of successive oil glaze layers between
layers of paint This gives incredible depth to the finished work.
An arduous, not to mention hazardous technique, Jos uses this
painting style to perfection in many of his still-life paintings.
During this very time consuming process the Artist, completely
repaints a scene four, five or sometimes even six times. It is
because of this, that Jos’s annual output of his sumptuous
detailed still-life’s is very limited.
In
search of warmer climatic conditions Jos moved from his native
country, The Netherlands, to
New Zealand
in 1973. Then in 1986, along with his wife
Lydia
and their four children, ( Lissy, Joshua,
Yahdah and Samuel,) he moved to Sydney Australia to settle.
A
lifetime of training, study, experience and the creation of
exquisite masterpieces has earned Jos an enviable international
reputation. His work is much sought after and in demand, hanging
in public and private collections in
Australia
,
New Zealand
,
Hong Kong
,
Japan
, North
and
South America
, the
United Kingdom
, several of the European Countries and
South Africa
.
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