Cirkel en Vierkant in Overgang (Circle and Square in Transition)

Ad Dekkers (1938-1974) was a Dutch artist who became prominent in the 1960s for his reliefs and monumental sculptures involving simple geometric forms. From 1954 to 1958 he studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, and focused primarily on the drawing of still lives and landscapes. A few years after his graduation, he sought increasing inspiration in De Stijl artists such as Piet Mondrian, with whom he shared the view that universal truths should be expressed in the simplest and purest means possible. This eventually lead to the creation of relief editions cast in polyester or made in wood or aluminium. Their structures revolved around Dekker’s repeated use of the circle, square or triangle, and were mostly painted in white, enabling them to better interact with light. Dekkers was represented by the Amsterdam gallerist Riekje Swart, who specialised in avant-garde, Constructivist and Systematic art. His work was also supported by the director of the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, Jean Leering, and exhibited together with the works of Jan Schoonhoven and Peter Struycken in the 1967 São Paolo Biennale. His relief Cirkel en Vierkant in Overgang (Circle and Square in Transition) was the first purchased work of art by Jan Hoekstra, and as such he exerted a considerable initial influence on the young collector’s pursuits, introducing him, most importantly, to Riekje Swart. A long-time sufferer of manic-depression, Dekkers took in his own life in 1974, cutting short the realisation of several artistic projects the artist had designed.