JAN  COX
Painter of Orpheus and the Iliad
From Antwerp to New York & Boston

Jan Cox (The Hague 1919 - Antwerp 1980)
Founding member of "La Jeune Peinture Belge" (Young Belgian Painters 1945-48).
Photo by Ludo Geysels

"Street view in Antwerp" 1942, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, signed "Jan" lower left
​Private collection

Solo exhibition at Galerie Lamorinière, Antwerp 1942
"Street view" is at his right

Exhibition of Rudolf Meerbergen, Marc Mendelson & Jan Cox.
Galerie Lamorinière, Antwerp, 1943. Paintings by Marc Mendelson.
Robert Giron, director of the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels invited the trio to exhibit at the PBA.

Jan Cox in 1945

 "Still life with carafe" 1943, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm (Sold)
Exhibited at Galerie Apollo, Brussels 1945 & Group 2 Gallery, 2015

Adriaan Raemdonck (Galerie De Zwarte Panter, Antwerp) visiting the 25th anniversary exhibition of Group 2 Gallery in 2015.

Marc Mendelson "Portrait of Jan Cox" 1945, pencil drawing

Marc Mendelson "Portrait of Jan Cox" 1948, Pencil drawing

"Orpheus arisen", Boston 1962, oil on canvas, 135 x 87 cm
​Sold

Jan Cox was born in The Hague in 1919 from a belgian father and a dutch mother. The family moved to Antwerp.
In 1943 Robert Giron visited an exhibition of Jan Cox and fellow artists ​​Rudolf Meerbergen and ​Marc Mendelson in Galerie Lamorinière in Antwerp and invited them to exhibit their works at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. When Mendelon was imprisoned by the germans during the exhibition, Cox helped to find and liberate him. Both artists became friends for life.
In 1950 Cox visited New York where he met the iconic galerist Curt Valentin, who exhibited his work. Unfortunately Valentin died in a car accident in 1954.
In 1956 Cox moved to Boston where he became head of the painting department at the School of the Fine Arts Museum. In 1974 Cox returned to Europe where he became one of the major artists of "Galerie De zwarte panter" directed by Adriaan Raemdonck.
Cox was obsessed by ancient mythology and human suffering and is best known for his cycles about Orpheus and the Iliad.

 

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