chris beekman: de stijl defector*

 table decoration (abstract), 1918 

 steam tram stop, 1918

 faces, 1918 – 1919 

 composition, 1918 – 1919

 going to church, 1918 – 1919

 composition, 1919

 untitled, 1919 – 1920

 composition, 1920

in 2017 the stedelijk museum shed light for the first time onto the work of chris beekman (1887 – 1964). none or very little can be found about this artist and radical left activist in literary sources concerned with de stijl. beekman's views were not compatible with the apolitical nature of the avant-garde art movement. after a couple of years searching for an universal expression of his ideas he renounced abstraction and turned to conventional realism, hence the title of the exhibition*. the above reproductions are a bunch of his most spectacular findings made between 1918 and 1920 before he eternally plunged into the figurative ocean.