It all started in the Netherlands
Frits Vogel is born on August 18, 1931 in Vlaardingen, where his father successfully runs a stylish flower shop and antiques trade.
He grew up during the German occupation years, years that were difficult in the west of the Netherlands and a clear mark on his further life.
He sees his future on the stage and preferably the cabaret, and if after the Secondary School he indicates that he wants to follow the School of Drama, that is true in the artistically oriented, but still decent shopkeeper family, with great opposition. Studying or doing a serious job, if necessary in the case of pa, is the advice ... He studies Commercial Science and gets a prize awarded as 'best successful and most artistic' for the floral professional diploma. He studies architecture, and leaves the parental home in early 1953.
Youth work still life watercolor
23x15 cm 1943
He leaves for Amsterdam where he lives as bohemian in a tiny houseboat in the Prinsengracht in the center of the city.
In order to provide for his maintenance, he makes designs for packaging of nylon stockings and cigarette brands, schnabbelt as flower bed in flower shops, draws portraits in cafes and on the street. From time to time he participates in flower exhibitions and decorates cars in flower corsos, with which he immediately succeeds and obtains first prizes.
"Het einde" gouache 34x26 cm 1953
In 1957 he established himself as an independent artist.
He makes watercolors, cityscapes and landscapes to nature, and tries to earn some money by designing jewelry for exclusive shops, making nature arrangements for the Bijenkorf and designs and decorates cars in the many flower parades that the Netherlands has. In which he receives the highest prices.
When Prince Philip of England comes to state visit to Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, he is commissioned to decorate the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht for this purpose.
"Broekpolder Vlaardingen" watercolor 19,5x22,5 cm 1957
In 1958, the Keukenhof asked him as an architect for the indoor exhibitions. He also gives demonstrations in floral art there.
He paints…
He makes the sets for the "Eurovision Song Contest".
Together with the filmmaker Jan Schaper, he makes a high-profile exhibition about the "clashing Maasjeugd".
Besides all this, he continues to paint ...
"Yachting in Schiedam" gouache 49x64 cm 1959
In 1960 he participated with a competition, written by the city of Rotterdam and became the first prize winner and realizer of the "Rotterdam stand" at the Floriade. Shortly thereafter, at the invitation of the Belgian Ministry of Education, Arts and Sciences, he holds lectures and demonstrations in Liège and Brussels.
He paints…
He also works with the Circus Boltini that year and makes theater shows with young lions and flower shows in the circus tent.
He managed to finish the year nicely, at an exhibition in Angers in France, "le Premier Grand Prix d'Honneur".
He continues to paint ...
"Pernis" gouache/waskrijt 50x65 cm 1959
It is understandable that this freedom seeker with a character that is difficult to support or support, was a fiery opponent of the then counter-performance scheme, later called the BK scheme.
"If you have talent, make it useful to society; society needs art to enrich life! ", Was a winged story of him and when in the spring of 1960 his daughter Manon was born, and his financial situation was not too rosy, he got the luminous idea to decorate the Scheveningen boulevard with flowers. He made large mosaics of hyacinth flowers as a spring greeting to visitors and tourists and "sponsored" by a number of large companies. The floral mosaics were a great success and for ten years, in the spring, during the heyday of the hyacinths, Frits made these artistic floral decorations with a number of employees.
1960 oil on canvas 97x195 cm
It is also in 1960 that he obtains "Le Premier Grand Prix d'Honneur" in an exhibition in France
Still life "Carafes and fruit" gouache 50x65 cm 1964
Following multiple ideas ... Frits puts its talents at the service of the business community and makes leading designs for stands at fairs and exhibitions. Stands that stand out, that are different than people are used to, using unknown materials and seen from a totally new angle. The assignments are growing and large names from the national and international business world are applying for their presentations to be designed by him.
In 1961 he received the first prize for "Hervorragende Standaufbau" in Stuttgart. He makes exhibitions in Essen, Groningen, Utrecht, Dordrecht and London. He exhibits between the assignments through his synthetic resin reliefs and sculptures and oil paintings in several galleries in the Netherlands.
In 1962 he received the first prize and honorary prize for a design for the Holland-America Line, won all prizes at an exhibition in Hamburg, made caste decorations for the Oude Lijnbaan in Vlaardingen and made beautiful glass mosaics for "Esso" and "Unilever".
In 1963 he received several assignments for interior architecture and realized a trendy café-restaurant and two liquor stores. He creates stage sets for the theater, designs designer furniture and has exhibitions in Nijmegen, Utrecht and Hamburg.
In 1964 he makes the sets for Mahalia Jackson during her European tour. He is the architect of an exhibition at the "Floralies Internationales" in Nantes and realizes an underwater artwork in The Hague.
"Stone age" gouache 50x65 cm 1965
In 1965 he takes part in the "Salon van de Maassteden" at the Stedelijk Museum in Schiedam, meets the King of Norway at an exhibition in Oslo, co-founder and initiator of a gallery of the artist's society VL65 and receives the assignment for 2 large mosaic windows made of transparent synthetic resins. He wins the highest prize with a design for Wilton Feyenoord in Schiedam, and ends that year with a total of four first prizes in various categories at the Bloemenvaktentoonstelling in Aalsmeer.
Without title gouache 38x55 cm 1965
Frits was extremely successful and many artists in his place would have let themselves be blinded by this success, or be tempted to build a business with the necessary employees ...
Frits Vogel however not ... His first concern has always been: "How I stay free! How do I prevent the business side from affecting my artistic integrity ". He always worked with "free lance" assistants, people he could inspire and with whom he achieved great performances together.
His restless nature propelled him with a tireless energy.
"Nude" gouache 21x51 cm 1965
"Nude" gouache 31x64 cm 1965
It goes on and on ... He starts experimenting with synthetic resins and discovers the many possibilities that that meterial provides. He is looking for a replacement of glass for his creations. It works!
In this way he obtains material that has the same transparency as glass with a huge color spectrum, which he can influence himself. He makes transparent synthetic resin creations and with this technique he realizes a colorful window of several square meters in a villa in The Hague.
He experiments further and makes a large number of wall reliefs and sculptures with synthetic resins. He goes even further and makes pottery, large vases and bowls, of polyester resins. Real pottery, because he uses minerals and sand that he binds with synthetic resins and allows them to polymerise. Beautiful and very artistic potterie with beautiful rich glazes, but potterie that has no oven.
He does not paint anymore in these years, from 1968 to 1980 there is virtually no paintwork known. In these years he is completely inspired by new techniques and new materials and he makes beautiful works of art with them.
A wonderful bird, a freedom seeker, a committed man, who is fighting against the injustice of the world, who in 1967 had accepted the appointment as designer and artistic director of the famous Aalsmeer Flower Parade, by the Secretary General of the United Nations. , Oe Thant, was personally thanked for the theme of his first corso in which he put people at the center and took a stand against hunger and discrimination. For the first time a flower parade where not only sweet and beautiful was shown, but also place was reserved for the negative side of our society.
Wandrelief in iron
"A devil artist", wrote the Algemeen Dagblad in a headline and indeed an artist, who proliferated with his talents and that ran as a circus artist at home and abroad.
"Dancing in the dark" gouache 50x65 cm 1965
Because of his many successes, Frits Vogel could afford to distance himself from the so-called "official" art events he hated. He detested sometimes 'ruckichtlos' following trends and fashions, a modernism, which obscures the honest experience in art. The distance that he thereby created from galleries and art critics may be regrettable afterwards. As a result, his dynamic and entirely individual style in the area of painting has been hidden for too long for people who are professionally engaged in bringing art to the attention of the public. Frits himself had no trouble with that; he expressed himself in many directions and continued with unbridled energy ...
In 1971 Frits makes an invitation to America, where he makes shows, gives demonstrations and is conducted as a European phenomenon by 16 different states and appears in numerous radio and television broadcasts. A tour that lasts a few months and inaugurates an important period of change.
Wall relief in synthetic resin 1965
When he returns to the Netherlands, he asks himself what he is doing. He is so engrossed in his assignments that his actual work, his painting and sculpting, comes under pressure. "What am I really", he asks ... and indeed, if you list the professions he exercises, it is quite impressive: designer, interior architect, window dresser, decorator, garden and landscape architect, exhibition architect, flower arranger, teacher in handicrafts and free expressions, director for events, set designer, designer and artistic director of the Aalsmeer Flower Parade, sculptor and painter, and in all these fields he succeeds!
Wall relief in synthetic resin 1965
But the "Michel Angelo" or the "Leonardo da Vinci" may no longer exist in our time, and certainly not in the Netherlands ... "Just do it then you're crazy enough ...", is a typical Dutch expression with which everything is said.
Frits continues with the current contracts and assignments. In 1972 he has a personal exhibition of his resin works and sculptures at the RAI in Amsterdam, and in the summer of that year he goes to France in search of a house: a place to retreat, to work undisturbed and to innovate artistically. In the spring of 1973 he bought 'Chabadie', a deserted hamlet located on the southern foothills of the 'Monts du Forez.
Gradually he builds up in the Netherlands, initially his applied work. He has the courage that few people share with him to refuse lucrative assignments and to let good customers ...
He is determined to innovate creatively.
Influence of the French Auvergne
Iron sculpture in Chabadie
height 160 cm
In the early seventies Vogel fled the Dutch art world to settle in the unspoiled nature of the French Auvergne. He continues what he was already doing in the Netherlands and manufactures a number of works of art in polyester, but quickly throws these materials into the corner and stops radically with this form of work. "I can not do it," he says, "it's too beautiful here, too clean, too natural; I feel polluted when I work with synthetic resins ". He feels that he must return to the source; he is going to paint again, very naturally, oil on canvas!
His renaissance begins in 1980. He develops a personal characteristic style with a cheerful and positive image.
It also sometimes leads to monumental art, such as the 50 meters long and 10 meter high monument "l'Onde de Soleil" (the light waves of the sun), which he made at the 'Lac d'Aubusson', representing the unspoiled nature around his beloved Chabadie.
His works, including the 'Onde de Soleil', were published a few years ago in a beautiful art book with a praising foreword by former President of France, M. Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
N ° 692 oil on canvas
120x120 cm November 1998
New paragraph "My go to the Auvergne was a flight to the pure, unspoiled. The Netherlands is a beautiful country with its cloudy skies, its endings and its old towns. It would be one of the most beautiful parts of Europe if a quarter of the people living there now live. The Netherlands is beautiful but almost everything is cultivated. An urbanite considers a pasture with some cows as nature. In France, on the other hand, you find space ... and space is wealth. It gives a piece of personal freedom. You need contrasts. If you level everything and smooth it, life becomes a lot less interesting. If you remove the ugly, the beautiful has no right to exist anymore. "
N ° 215 oil paint on canvas
100x90 cm April 1990
The year 1980 was a breaking point. Frits has settled permanently in France and that is reflected in a great artistic explosion. He has relieved himself of a great deal of ballast, paints as a driven person almost day and night and makes a great oeuvre in a short time. After a stormy life of years on the road, he starts, at almost fifty years old, a quiet painter's existence, withdrawn in the beautiful nature of Auvergne.
But it does not take long to get him back on track. The first to find him is a journalist from Germany, who has done detective work and suddenly finds him on the sidewalk. Then comes the French television and makes several reports about the artist and his work. The Algemeen Dagblad writes in a headline above an article: 'Living as Frits in France'. A French newspaper, 'La Montagne', concludes: 'The painter Frits Vogel has found his new inspiration in Auvergne!'
'Then just as exhibit', says Frits.
N ° 837
oil paint on canvas 150x200 cm June 2003
His round of exhibitions with new work began in February 1981 with a first exhibition in 'Galerie Matisse' in Vichy. Many exhibitions follow ... His new work strikes and is highly appreciated by a large number of art lovers and art connoisseurs. His works are now in many private collections, public buildings, churches and museums around the world and appear regularly at international art auctions.
N ° 432 triptique oil on canvas 50x210 cm July 1993
He paints in peace in his beloved Chabadie, a hidden spot in the middle of a wonderfully beautiful nature. He regularly alternates painting with making sculptures in iron, iron sculptures that have the same intention and content as his paintings. "Painting and sculpting is a compliments for me" "he says," when I make sculptures, I miss the color and that's why I paint; yet I think that I am more spatial worker; in my paintings I always look for depth and relief, you see the sculptor behind it ".
N ° 688 quadriptique oil on canvas 50x200 cm in August 1998
It is impossible to accommodate Vogel's work at a certain school. His prehistory also shows that he is averse to currents and has no visible influence. Of course, he is above all a "colorist" with a very dull palette, which easily switches from one color range to another. "I learned that from the flowers," he says. "I need color. Colors are essential to me and they follow my emotions ". The shapes in his canvases, however, are of no importance to the color; his compositions have been constructed and have a strong architectural structure. Art critics recognize that Frits Vogel has developed a unique, individual style!
N ° 352 oil paint on canvas 100x50 cm March 1992
What many people do not know about Frits Vogel, however, is his drive to adventure, seeing with his own eyes how people live elsewhere in the world; his interest in their culture, their myths and their customs. His beautiful collection of primitive art testifies to a great archaeological and ethnological interest.
Frits Vogel is a great connoisseur of the art of the Dogon, a people living at the foot of a rock wall in present-day Mali, under which he stayed for a long time. He visited the hard-to-reach and remote Dogon villages and lived and lived among the Dogon people.
He was captivated by their culture, their cosmonogie, by their architecture and by their images and masks. He did not get out of it anymore.
N ° 354 oil paint on canvas 100x90 cm
March 1992
N ° 617 oil paint on canvas
100x100 cm
November 1996
In his paintings and sculptures the wondrous structures of the Dogon and their predecessors the Tellem, time and again come forward, their mud cube-shaped storage sheds with thatched roofs, their forms of living, integrated into a bizarre and wondrous landscape.
On returning from one of his travels in the sixties, he once declared: "I lived in such a wonderful world, a world so pure, a confrontation with ideas, behind which you can find a special philosophy of life, that I can totally was overwhelmed. The people of the Dogon taught me inner satisfaction. "
N ° 698 oil on canvas 100x100 cm
January 1999
N ° 92 oil paint on canvas 90x100 cm
February 1983
N ° 690 oil on canvas 120x120 cm
November 1998
N ° 908 oil paint on canvas 100x100 cm February 2006
After 35 years of living and working in the beautiful nature of the French Auvergne, Frits Vogel moves his studio to the mystical island of Bali in Indonesia to begin a new phase in his artistic life.
Frits lives and works in the midst of his Balinese friends on that luxuriant and inspiring island of the Gods.
This talented man surprises us every time through his energy, his independence of trends and movements and his desire for artistic renewal. Despite his advanced age, he is still a very productive artist.
N ° 924 oil paint on canvas 120x120 cm February 2007
His work remains very popular with many. The rare exhibitions that he organizes anywhere in the world are true events. The prices of his works are rising every year. He can, in all objectivity, be called a successful artist.
As an artist he continues to translate the positive forces of life into his creations.
Frits Vogel allows us to participate in his personal artistic approach and experience and we find ourselves at heart here. It seems that the work would have originated in the deepest depths, in which the secrets of a beauty that is dazzling exist.
N ° 940 oil paint on canvas 50x50 cm March 2008
N ° 944 oil paint on canvas 100x120 cm april 2008
Frits Vogel, it is important to meet him, to exchange ideas with him, to talk about his visual activities. It is as if you are listening to an alchemist who connects his colors to life. It is an overwhelming emotion, with feelings that are permeated with sublimity and respect.
Nature elements occur in his painter and sculpture; his works play with air, light, sun and rain, even snow adds his brushstroke to it, just as an iris or rushing water depth underlines. Shadows deepen the work in a multitude of unprecedented expressions.
N ° 933 oil on canvas 120x120 cm January 2008
The artist has, from the bottom of his imagination, created a new world, which at the beginning of the 21st century, which is completely contemporary, hardly knows any age, because the works of Frits Vogel remain timeless
N ° 945 oil paint on canvas 200x250 cm april 2008
Time resumes its course, but attention and spirit remain in ecstasy; art has a soul, art is alive! One artwork after another is present to lead us to dream or meditation, to beauty or grace, imagined by an exceptional artist: ... Frits Vogel.