Adé Van Duyn
An Artist's Journey
Adé graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague in Holland. The Academy, known as “KABK” is famous for its faculty of professional designers and artists of renown. In the late 1940s, Bauhaus educators led newly established Industrial Design and Fashion programs along with a progressive and classical focus, set within a vibrant post WWII art scene in the Hague. The “Niewe Haagste School,” The Hague “Verve” experimental art movement and the "Cobra" Avante guard group flourished side by side in the recovering city of Den Hague. These vibrant artistic energies immersed artists, students and faculty not only in experimentation with new styles and interpretations, but also artistic skills and techniques of the highest quality. Adé studied drawing, painting and sculpting with such influential professors as Nico Baak*, Kees Hos*, Dirk Bus*​, and Marinus Schipper*.
Art School self-portrait by Adé
In 1952 Adé sailed across the Atlantic to join her former classmate and future husband—Gerard Van Duyn. Gerard picked her up in Halifax, and the two settled in Kitchener Ontario, Canada. Gerard, newly employed as a rising young European designer, art director and filmmaker— was instrumental in the rising popularity of early TV. Adés' talent flowed into many collaborations on titles, illustrations, storyboards and design elements. In 1956 Gerard and Adé started a family as new opportunities and connections in California arrived. Photography, set design film direction and production in Burbank California. The family of four embarked upon their journey to the USA where Gerard established his credentials and built key affiliations with established professionals. This was a long held dream that materialized after years of working and dreaming. Adé worked diligently on her drawings of children, trees and landscapes as she continued to assist with graphic design and illustration when needed.
Adé crossing the Atlantic to Canada
The East Coast soon called out to the young European creatives—offering significant opportunities in NYC, leading to assignments for the NY World’s Fair Exhibits in 1964 and Expo'67. The Van Duyn family settled in Westport Ct. where Gerard Van Duyn & Associates became established as a design firm. As Adé set up outdoor art workshops during the summer for her four children and invited the neighborhood children to participate—leading to Adés return to teaching; collaborating with progressive experimental educator Rose Park, at the New School and later Parks School. This inspired Adé to work as a full time Art activities professional for Senior residences, calling upon her skills for visual arts. Adé created festive and dramatic holiday events and parties— composing displays that included masks, costumes, vibrantly composed signs and activity boards which regaled hallways, dining and activity rooms . Also offering audio visual presentations, ingenious craft projects, and fine art glass and mosaic projects—far surpassing the typical senior activities offered. Adé become a cornerstone of community engagement for the elderly and their families.
Camera in hand, Adé chronicles travels...
Adé in Connecticut on the Appalachian Trail
Upon her retirement, Adé pursued her love of plein-air landscape painting producing a large body of watercolors. Adé portrays trees, landscapes, people and architecture in Connecticut, Maine, North Carolina, Holland and Italy. Ade also reignited her studies, having worked with teachers emeritus Peter Konsterlie, and Barbara Lawless. Recently she has worked with painters Eddie Nino and Gus Moran, and she continues to be an active artist member of the Westport Center for Senior Activities in Westport. Adé has exhibited at local galleries, the University of Bridgeport, and also produced significant bodies of work such as “Collateral Damage” capturing scenes of disappearing Saugatuck, Connecticut. Currently Adé designs and produces architectural stained glass windows, collaborating with her fellow colleague and lifelong friend, Norakit Smitobol.
* Nico Baak • 1892-1961 • Conceptual and Expressionist painting. Painter of landscapes, portraits, townscapes, and figures. Book illustrator and graphic designer.
* Kees Hos • 1916-2015 • Taught watercolor. Joined Dutch Underground Resistance. Later opened New Vision Gallery in Aukland, New Zealand and championed modernism and abstraction. Hos was also a distinguished printmaker.
* Dirk Bus • 1907-1978 • Taught Clay Sculpture. Chairman of the Pulchri Studio and member of the Dutch Society of Sculptors in Amsterdam. Bus co-founded the artistic group Hague Verve with Theo Bitter.
* Marinus Schipper • 1906-1985 • Taught decorative painting. Painter, member of De Group, Kunstvereniging De Onafhankellijken, and Pulchri Studio.
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​* Pulchri Studio • From the Hague School and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague had a favorable effect on the development of the artists' association Pulchri Studio. This society assumed the function of the promotion of the fine arts. There were excellent teachers and students in this environment.