SikkensFoundation

Sikkens Prize

1962 STRUCTURE, DICK VAN WOERKOM, JEAN GORIN, CHARLES BIEDERMAN, JOOST BALJEU — For the revival of constructivism and the presentation of universal laws in the line of De Stijl with the aim of achie- ving the complete renovation of our social environment, from the home to the city. — In 1962 the Sikkens Prize was awarded to three visual artists: Jean Gorin, Charles Biederman and Joost Baljeu; one architect: Dick van Woerkom; and one journal: Struc- ture (1958-1964), founded by Baljeu. This English langu- age internationally-oriented journal focuses on the syn- thesis between architecture and the visual arts. It opposes the “wave of unbridled chaos which overwhelm- ed post-war visual arts”, and a stand was taken against the “art for art’s sake” attitude which, according to the editors, characterized Tachism, Action Painting, Bruta- lism and Neo-Realism. Instead they adopted a positive point of view with the conviction that it was possible to re- build the world and the aim was to achieve this by an in- creasingly far-reaching synthesis of the arts. The under- lying aim was the integration of art and society in which abstract harmony was to be conceived as a metaphor for a just a happy modern society. The 1962 winners of the Sikkens Prize all appear in the journal. They were linked by (neo)-constructivism which is an extension of De Stijl and Malevich. The four artists were also represented at the exhibition “Experiment in construction”, which took place a year earlier in the Ste- delijk Museum in Amsterdam. Work by eight artists from different countries, who were all working in the neo-con- structivist style, was exhibited at this exhibition. Their ab- stract – geometric paintings, sculptures and maquettes – closely resembled each other. Joost Baljeu was one of the organizers and published the text “The new visual ex- pression” in the exhibition catalogue, revealing a chan- ging view of reality: Nature as a visible reality was no lon- ger the starting point for this new art, rather the expression of universal laws, immaterial principles of form which are the foundation of the cosmos. This new visual expression was not a refection of this reality, but translated it: a process of intense internalization. It did not create forms, but plastic relationships. The new visu- al expression was positive. Instead of looking for the self, it presented the individual as part of society and every contribution to society as the highest aim. It is for this reason that the new visual expression was at the same time preparing for the general renewal of our social envi- ronment: from the home to the city. Back to index Download text as pdf