Architect and Artist Michel de Klerk, Inspiror of the Amsterdam School

by Ton Heijdra, Alice Roegholt, Laura Lubbers (editor)

Michel de Klerk was a versatile architect and a great artist. This book shows all facets of his work, from buildings to furniture, paintings and drawings.

Michel de Klerk was the great inspirer of the Amsterdam School, the Dutch expressionist movement in architecture. Besides a brilliant architect he was also a versatile artist. 'The Rembrandt among architects' made drawings and paintings and designed furniture and interiors. De Klerk created an innovative language of forms and brought beauty to the working class. This book reveals the versatility of his work through lavish images and quotes from De Klerk himself and his contemporaries.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[David Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing about the Amsterdam School before visiting the Museum Het Schip on the last afternoon of my vacation to Amsterdam. I was immediately struck in the same way as the 20th-century architecture critic J.G. Wattjes, who said of this Romantic-Modernist style: "What grand, monumental massing and what meticulous, loving details." I purchased the English translation of this book in the Het Schip bookstore. A few months later, I have enjoyed both the text and copious illustrations, which do an excellent job of describing the work and influence of the Amsterdam School's principal figure, Michel de Klerk.