Nanno Freerk de Groot (March 23, 1913 – December 26, 1963) was a Dutch artist, he was self-taught and active in New York City. He belonged to the group of New York SchoolAbstract expressionist artists of the 1950s. He wrote:
"In moments of clarity of thought I can sustain the idea that everything on earth is nature, including that which springs forth from a man's mind, and hand. A Franz Kline is nature as much as a zinnia."[2]
Biography
Nanno de Groot was born March 23, 1913, in Balkbrug, Netherlands. De Groot started drawing at six years of age, his father prevented him from studying art when he was young.
In 1930–1933 he went to the nautical school in Amsterdam, Netherlands. After graduation he received third mate and radio operator's papers. From 1937 to 1941 he worked in the shipping business and lived on the island of Bali. In 1941 he was called for submarine duty by the Dutch Navy and was assigned to Admiral's headquarters on Java where he stayed until the arrival of the Japanese. He was then sent to San Francisco, California, USA to serve as liaison officer to the United States Army and United States Navy in charge of running troop ships between the west coast and the western Pacific, chartered by the United States. He was Lieutenant Commander in charge of the Dutch Port Authority in San Francisco. The position discontinued in 1946. He applied for US citizenship, and became a US citizen in 1954.
Artistic career
In 1946 at age 33, he discovered Pablo Picasso and he dedicated the rest of his life to painting and drawing.[3] He worked for a year as a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. After his marriage to the New York School artist Elise Asher in 1948 de Groot settled in New York on West 12th Street. He and Elise Asher divorced in 1957, and he subsequently married painter Patricia Richardson (also known as Pat de Groot).[4]
Nanno de Groot became connected to the pioneers of the New York School. De Groot considered himself an American artist and part of the abstract expressionistmovement. He participated from 1954 to 1957 in the invitational New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals[5] These Annuals were important because the participants were chosen by the artists themselves.[6]
Nanno de Groot died on December 26, 1963, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, from lung cancer.[7][8] He was survived by his wife Pat de Groot,[7][9][4] who created his unique tombstone found at Provincetown’s municipal cemetery.[4]
Solo exhibitions
1952 : Saidenberg Gallery, New York City, New York;
^American abstract expressionism of the 1950s : an illustrated survey with artists' statements, artwork and biographies. OCLC50253062 – via worldcat.org.
^Nanno de Groot : a retrospective exhibition, May 28 – June 30, 1982. OCLC49597982 – via worldcat.org.
^New York school : abstract expressionists : artists choice by artists : a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951–1957. OCLC50666793 – via worldcat.org.
^New York school : abstract expressionists : artists choice by artists : a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951–1957. OCLC50666793 – via worldcat.org.
