Jan Montyn - Etching, untitled

Jan Montyn (actually: Montijn) (Oudewater, 13 November 1924 – Amsterdam, 10 August 2015) was a Dutch painter, draftsman, graphic artist and poet. His work can be found in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
Jan Montyn (Oudewater, 1924 - 2015)
Stylistically, Montyn's work cannot be classified in a specific direction or movement in the visual arts. Initially, he worked very traditionally and figuratively, but at the beginning of the sixties he opted for a stylized, often abstract visual language full of personal signs and symbols. He does not use graphics exclusively as a multiplication technique, but as a medium to arrive at his own style with his own idiom. The first experiments with the etching technique were carried out without color, but gradually color became an essential part of his work. Color, form, line and content were combined in a monumental way to an abstracted visual language. On zinc plates, Montyn works with mixed etching techniques such as dry needle, aquatint and tailledouche. He invented the method of printing multiple etching plates on one large plate himself. Montyn always prints his prints himself in small editions. The most important theme in his work is the landscape, as the projection of human emotion. Montyn meditates on the landscape, as it were. His connection with the landscape and the earth is evident from his preference for the colour umber, which for him symbolises the earth and everything connected to it. Long journeys, particularly to Southeast Asia, are an important source of inspiration in his work. He has more or less permanent residences in the South of France, Thailand and the Netherlands.