Ad Snijders - Birth of Venus XXL

Ad Snijders (1929 – 2010) was an Eindhoven artist, draftsman, collagist and sculptor. He started drawing at the age of twelve and actually is
he never stopped doing that. His style can best be described as expressionistic, figurative art.
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Ad Snijders
Birth of Venus
oil on canvas
157x132
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As an artist, Ad Snijders is self-taught. This was mainly because he had to go straight to work after primary school. He started as an apprentice typesetter at a printing house, but always continued to draw in his spare time. This ensured that he joined Kunstkring de Kempen in 1947 at the age of eighteen, as one of the youngest members. Later in life he still got the chance to study. Thanks to the French government, he received a grant to attend education at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiére in Paris in 1961 and 1962.
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Both Snijder's theme and his way of working were in line with events in the time periods in which he worked. This meant his work was always up to date. During his career, Snijders knew several ways of working. He started as a draftsman, but made his first oil painting in 1955. Painting immediately came naturally to him. Between 1958 and 1963, Snijders regularly made sculptures of papier-mâché and wood, but also fragile constructions of metal. In 1964 he made his last painting for the time being and started working on collage techniques. Around 1970, painted and drawn reality, figuration, returned to his work.
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Ad Snijders' work has been exhibited since 1957 in leading galleries and museums both at home and abroad. His work was on display in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and several times in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. In 1959 he exhibited at Galerie Taurus in Nijmegen together with artists Armando and Kees van Bohemen. A year later his work was selected for Premio Marzotto in Valdagno, Italy. Here he exhibited together with Corneille and Lucebert, among others.