Jo Koster

Dutch graphic artist, painter and draftsman. Koster was a daughter of Johannes Petrus Koster (1830-1886), captain-quartermaster, and Catharina Antoinetta van Veen (15 April 1840 11 PM Utrecht - 1921), who married 3 November 1864 in Utrecht. She was the third in a family of eight children. Three sisters died as a child. Because her father was a professional officer, the family often had to move. Jo went to the Secondary School of Girls in Dordrecht (mms). She also received painting lessons from Roland Larij, specialist in landscapes, interiors and portraits, genres that also practiced Jo. After high school she went to the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijs in Amsterdam (1885-1888) and then to the Rotterdam Academy (1888-1892), with Jan Striening . She taught at the academy for some time and after receiving the Royal Subsidy for Free Painting in 1894 she received lessons in Brussels from Ernest Blanc-Garin and from the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi in Paris. In 1902 she settled in Zwolle, where she founded a drawing and painting class. In the summer months she worked regularly in Staphorst, where she depicted the farmers' workers and the costume. When she reached a dead point in her career in 1905, she stopped painting on the advice of HP Bremmer and first focused on drawing. Her work then became purer in color and composition. Kosters style varies over the years, she painted neo-impressionist and also made pointillist work. From 1910 to 1924 she lived in Hattem, after which she lived for short periods in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, until she moved to The Hague in 1934. In addition to the sale of free work, she earned money with travel reports for newspapers and portraits on commission. She also produced needle art, ex libris , illustrations and room screens. During the Second World War the Statenkwartier where she lived was evacuated and she moved to Zaltbommel. Koster never married. She was affiliated with Arti et Amicitiae, Pulchri Studio, Vereeniging Sint Lucas and the Vereeniging van Beeldende Kunstenaars 'De Rotterdammers'. She has exhibited with these associations, but also at the National Exhibition of Women Labor 1898 and the exhibition De Vrouw 1813-1913. On the occasion of her seventieth birthday her work was exhibited in The Hague, Dordrecht and Amersfoort. Her work has been included in the collections of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Kröller-Müller Museum and the Voerman Museum Hattem . Koster was diagnosed with cancer in 1943. The artist died the following year, at the age of 75, when she was staying with a friend. Link to Dutch wikipedia