Quist, Leen - NL

First name: 
Leen
Initials: 
L.
Surname: 
Quist
Year of birth: 
1942
Birthplace: 
St. Philipsland (Tholen)
Country of birth: 
The Netherlands
Working period: 
1977 - 2004
Year of death: 
2014
CV: 
Leen Quist is born on september 4, 1942 in Anna Jacobapolder/St. Philipsland ( Island Tholen). From 1964 to 1972 he was a teacher. Leen follows from 1967 to 1972 the training for teacher crafts at the Catholic Association for manual labor in Breda. From 1972 he is teacher of applied arts and art history at the Community Schools ' Middelburg Nehalennia '. Leen started his own studio in Middelburg at Pijpstraat 9. In 1977, he has his first exhibition. From 1977 to 1978 he follows in two summer holidays an internship with the Danish ceramist Clara Andersen (1944) in Arhus (DK). Here he finds the starter for his way of working, especially in technical terms. The decoration is applied by scratching the lines in the leather hard clay and populate it on with an engobe. After that, the whole is glazed. The result leaves clean lines, that fits very well in the abstract views of the artist. Quist works since 1979 only with porcelain. Since 1982 Leen is member of the Académie Internationale de la Céramique in Geneva. Leen Quist closes his Studio in 2012. His oeuvre consists of approximately 1700 sellable pieces porcelain. Leen died in Veere/Middelburg on 11 april 2014.
 
Images: Portrait dated around 1980 (source: De hedendaagse gebruikskeramiek in Nederland); Portrait (source Omroep Zeeland); Portrait from around 2012 while stopping his working life (source: PZC by 3 december 2012); two works in celadon glaze; lost work that shows the incised situation before firing process (source: PZC of 3 decmber 2012, thanks!); lidded box in salmon glaze (collection Capriolus).

 

 

 

Work of the artist: 

His oeuvre, initially white earthenware, but since 1979, immaculate white porcelain, consists of bowls, open bowls, boxes mostly with a geometric intarsia technique inlay. All pieces are handmade in a very precise way. Main colors are white, blue and celadon. From 1990, the work is more colorful. Wide lines in yellow, sky blue, pistachio and pink-red give his work a less strict character.

Dating
Since 1981 Leen Quist has numbered his work . This numbering is indicated here as the number of the work and production year, 1001.1981, 1084.1982, 1200.1983, 1328.1984, 1460.1985, 1510.1986, 1576.1987, 1632.1988, 1716.1989, 1803.1990, 1865.1991, 1924.1992. After 1992 there is no information available and the production is low.

 

 

Bibliography: 
  • Spruit-Ledeboer, Mieke G. Nederlandse Keramiek 1975 / 1985, p. 152.
  • Spruit-Ledeboer, Mieke en Maarten van Thiel, De hedendaagse gebruikskeramiek in Nederland, 1981.
  • Bodt, Saskia de, Quist maakt keramiek met strenge vormgeving, in: NRC, 1982.
  • Duits, Thimo te, Keramiek 90, Moderne Keramiek in Nederland, 1990.
  • Spruit-Ledeboer, Mieke G. Danish Ceramic Artists and Leen Quist, 1990.
  • Duits, T.G. te, De Noordelijke traditie, Leen Quist, keramiek & de keramiekcollectie Koster en Quist, catalogus bij de expositie in Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, 1993.
  • Bestandscatalogus Nederlandse na-oorloge keramiek, RBK 1995.
  • Köster, Caroline, Benedikt und Gabriele, Keramik aus Kösters Kunstkammer, 1999, p. 113.
  • Kuyer, P. en G. Schipperheijn, 'De stille muziek van Leen Quist', in: Keramiek nr. 1. 2009.
  • Middelburgse keramist Leen Quist stopt ermee, in: PZC van 3 december 2012.
  • Lardinois, Yvette, IN MEMORIAM: Leen Quist, in: Keramiek juni 2014