Theo Wolvecamp

Theo Wolvecamp (Hengelo, August 30, 1925 - Amsterdam, October 11, 1992) was a member of the CoBrA artist coalition.

Theo Wolvecamp started painting at a young age. In 1947 he dropped out the art academy in Arnhem and left for Amsterdam. There he became involved with the Experimental Group in the Netherlands and in 1948 with the CoBrA movement. The young painter worked in Paris from 1953 to 1954. 

Wolvecamp's oeuvre can be divided into different periods. Immediately after the war, Pablo Picasso's work made a great impression on him. Later he became interested in the painter Joan Miró. Kandinsky also had a lot of influence on his work. After a Miró-like beginning, Wolvecamp made abstract expressionist works in often dark tones and with thick layers of paint. In his compositions (especially from 1955) fantasy creatures and other figurative elements emerge, reminiscent of the paintings of the Danish CoBrA member Asger Jorn.

Relatively few pieces of work, especially from his CoBrA period, have been preserved. This was because Wolvecamp was often very critical of his own work and destroyed or painted over many paintings.