Dick Elffers (1910-1990)

LevensloopElffers was trained as a graphic designer at the Rotterdam art academy. He developed into a versatile visual artist: draftsman, painter, graphic artist, binding designer, sculptor, ceramist and photographer. In addition to being a performing artist, he was a teacher of monumental art at the art academy in 's-Hertogenbosch from 1970 to 1976. Elffers received the State Prize for Typography for his typographic work. Work by Elffers is in the collection of the Jewish Historical Museum, among others. Elffers was also involved as a designer at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, both with regard to the graphic design of the museum and the museum exhibits. He married the photographer Emmy Andriesse (1914-1953) in 1941 and remarried in 1954 with Mien Harmsen (1915- 2000). He is the father of writer, visual artist and illustrator Joost Elffers.Graficus Elffers was responsible for the graphic design of the quarterly, English-language magazine Delta - a review of arts, life and thought in the Netherlands for 16 years (from 1958 to 1973). Elffers was also one of the editors from 1961 until 1973, when the magazine was closed. In a monographic overview in the winter issue 1964-65 of Delta entitled Dick Elffers, An Art of Creative Arrangement, Lucas van der Land gave an overview of Dick Elffers as a typographer, poster designer, painter, sculptor and spatial artist. In the last issue of Delta (winter 1973-74), Dr GW Ovink paid attention to the work of Dick Elffers as a graphic designer of the magazine, in particular to the covers, which were widely known. In 2008 and 2009 he published the book On the bottom lies lettergranite and speaks plain language, an interplay between word and form.[2]The Golden Age exhibition, about the highlights of a hundred years of Dutch graphic design, paid ample attention to the work of Elffers in 2008 and 2009. . In 2008 this exhibition was shown in Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest, Madrid and the Graphic Design Museum in Breda. Until September 2009, Golden Age could still be seen in several other European cities. .Work in public space (selection) Jewish monument - Alphen aan den Rijn (1988), unveiled in 1990 by Simon Wiesenthal[3] Cherubs also: Fishing - Geuzenveld-Slotermeer in Amsterdam (1963) Totem Pole - Gouda (1961) see: image The primordial world of the animal in relation to the synthetic world, a ceramic relief for Shell - Pernis (1960/1961) Life, a ceramic screen in the auditorium of the SS Rotterdam of the HALBiography Bruinsma, Max A last has three feet: Dick Elffers & the Arts (1989) ed. De Balie, Amsterdam, ISBN 90-6617-062-X Elffers, Dick Form and counter form: an attempt at a portrait of a designer (1976) ed. Gerrit Jan Thieme Fund, Amsterdam