Willem Gerard Hofker

Willem Hofker was born in The Hague and first studied at the Academy of Fine Arts there and later at the National Academy in Amsterdam. He was also taught by Willem Witsen and Issac Israel who were friends of his father, an amateur artist and writer. Hofker won 2nd prize at the Prix de Rome in 1924 and settled in Amsterdam with his wife Maria who was also a painter. There they supported themselves mainly through executing portraits. Hofker first went to Bali in 1938 and made many drawings, paintings, and etchings of Balinese women and temples. He was captured by the Japanese during the invasion in 1942 and released in 1944. His works are rich in texture with a very sensitive use of light and shadow. Hofker was a very romantic and poetic artist with an elegant mastery of technique.