Jan Cox
1919 - 1980
Died in Antwerp (BE), born in Den Haag (NL).
The painter and graphic artist Jan Cox (1919-1980) studies history and archaeology in Ghent. In 1945, he co-founds the Jeune Peinture Belge group, which renewed the foundations for contemporary art after the Second World War through abstract modernism.
In 1956, Jan Cox moves to Boston, where he is employed as the head of painting, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After artistic wanderings via Rome, he moves back to Antwerp in 1976, where he concentrates fully on painting and graphic art. Together with Fred Bervoets, Walter Goossens and Wilfried Pas, he becomes one of the pivotal artists of the Antwerp gallery De Zwarte Panter. The work of Jan Cox during this period is characterised by careful compositions, with a magical, surreal atmosphere, a gestural capacity and an expressive colour palette, which refers back to the Cobra artists. Cox, however, works in a more controlled fashion – no spontaneous Fauvism but well-considered compositions, with references to ‘classic’ themes such as violence, cruelty and vulnerability. In his last work – which lays at the core of M HKA’s commitment to Cox – he is even more explicitly searching for a way to cope with the atrocities people both experience and cause. This had been an obsession of his since his experience as a young man in the time leading up to the Second World War. In 1980 the artist takes his own life.
Items
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Papageno
Jan Cox, Papageno, 1976. Drawing, color pencil, ink, gouache on paper, 300 x 270 mm.
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Oh! Those Voices, Boston
Jan Cox, Oh! Those Voices, Boston, 1972. Painting, acrylic on canvas, 127 x 159 cm.
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Untitled
Jan Cox, Untitled. Drawing, pen and ink incremented with chalk on paper , 406 x 537 mm.
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As Manipulators of the Vi...
Jan Cox, As Manipulators of the Visual Arts our Understanding goes through our Eyes., 1961. Text, 3 p.
Events
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Recent acquisitions
14 August 2015 - 31 January 2016.
The M HKA collection is always expanding. With Recent acquisitions, M HKA showcased purchases that help shape our excisting collection. When -

EXTRA MUROS: Geel – Middl...
15 September 2018 - 04 November 2018.
Exhibition project Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna is a cooperation between M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, and cultural -

Reaching Out. An Homage t...
18 May 2019 - 01 September 2019.
In 2019 we celebrate the centenary of Jan Cox (1919-1980), co-founder of the Jeune Peinture Belge, and a pivotal international figure in the -

Worth Fighting For
14 November 2022 - 14 December 2022.
Worth Fighting For The Ukrainian fight is about the survival of a nation and its right to exist – politically, militarily, econom
Ensembles
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ICC_Publications
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Teksten van Jan Cox [Text...
With this small ensemble we give you a glimpse at some texts that Jan Cox wrote in preparation for his lectures in Boston and some texts relf
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Worth Fighting For
14.11 - 14.12.2022 Oskar-Jäger-Strasse 97-99, 50933 Cologne Open every day, 10:00 – 18:00 The Ukrainian fight is about the sur
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A Historical Landscape of...
A Historical Landscape of War (with a reflection by Yevhenii Monastyrskyi) The point of departure for the opening space is a historical land
Media
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