Corneille

Biography

Corneille, alias Cornelis Guillaume Beverloo, (1922-2010) studied at the College of Industrial Art, as well as studying a course in drawing and etching at the National Academy in Amsterdam. He became friends with Karel Appel, who also happened to be at the academy at that time. In 1948, along with Appel, Constant, Rooskens and Wolvecamp, he set up the Dutch Experimental Group. Later, this became the Amsterdam branch of the well-known CoBrA movement which was set up in Paris. For Corneille, the period just before the emergence of the CoBrA movement was a time of preparation for his later works. During the CoBrA period, which would only last for 3 years, Corneille mainly experimented, applying various motifs and different drawing and painting techniques. He also began to work on a more intuitive level. He mainly gained his inspiration from the faraway trips he had made. In his paintings, birds and women are dominant, interchanged with taut, straight lines and round, free strokes. From 1950, Corneille lived in Paris, continuing to travel the whole world; he considered Paris as a sort of home base. Corneille's works are on exhibition over the whole world. His work has been exhibited or is now on exhibition in almost every large city in the world.