Jef Diederen - Mines in Limburg

Jef Diederen was a Dutch painter and graphic artist.
Diederen was one of the so-called Amsterdam Limburgers.
His later paintings are considered abstract art.
From 1939 to 1943 he attended the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Maastricht, where he met Pieter Defesche and Ger Lataster.
The arts and crafts school taught students almost all art disciplines, from painting and graphics to glass art and theatre design.
In 1943, Jef continued his education (Drawing) at the 'Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten' in Amsterdam, but left again a year later to continue his education in 1947.
He took part in the group exhibition Amsterdam Painters of Now in 1948 and completed his studies in Monumental and Decorative Painting in 1951.
In 1948, 1949 and 1950 he received the Royal Subsidy for Free Painting.
At the Rijksacademie, Diederen met Karel Appel and Corneille as fellow students, in addition to Lataster.
Until 1955 he mainly painted landscape gouaches and drawings.
They are mostly realistic landscapes from his native region of South Limburg.
The painters referred to as 'Amsterdam Limburgers' eventually became known for very diverse work, but they were all deeply influenced by French post/impressionist art.
He then developed - like Ger Lataster - in an abstract direction, although the landscape remained a great inspiration for him.
The dimensions of his oil paintings were often idiosyncratic and therefore striking, and he also combined canvases of different sizes with each other.
Jef Diederen's art is lyrical-abstract with a friendly and soft look, despite the strong colours. France has been an important source of inspiration.
His work is further characterised by strong social commitment.
He makes works in response to, among other things, Apartheid in South Africa, Jewish holidays, Nazi executions in the Ukraine, the oppression of Indians in the US, the Palestinian intifada, the political prisoners in Spain under the Franco regime and the Vietnam War, but with his landscapes he also has an eye for the depopulation of the countryside in France.
He pays extensive tributes to his jazz heroes such as Albert Ayler or favourite artists such as Cézanne, and his artist friends Lei Molin and Pieter Defesche.
Diederen draws his inspiration from the texts of his friends, the poets Lucebert and Bert Schierbeek, and from medieval Spanish stories (such as 'Romance del Prisonero').
As an idiosyncratic artist, he never sought permanent affiliation with groups or movements.
In addition to his many paintings and works on paper, he also carried out various commissions for murals and stained glass windows.
Jef Diederen is one of the most prominent graphic artists in the Netherlands after the Second World War.
He also taught at the Art Academy of Den Bosch.
In 1987 he was awarded the Jeanne Oosting Prize.