Neervoort, Leo

Neervoort was a lively, cheerful person, full of wit, despite his later disability. He loved the mirth of public feasts such as Queen’s Birthday and the Openings of Parliament. And he liked sports events, which he recorded in an unrivaled manner. Rows of crowding people, soldiers on parade, colorful bands, and the gabled roofs of the houses are arranged with so much feeling for rhythm and order that his paintings acquire an almost abstract quality.
From: Van der Endt.

Background: middle-class, father was shop keeper
Education: primary school
Profession/occupation: general dogsbody; later porter and postman at the Staatsdrukkerij in The Hague.
Art form/medium: naive painting in gouache on paper and oils on canvas
Start artwork: spontanously, in 1957, after serious health problems leading to permanent invalidity.
His themes: public festivities, royal celebrations and ceremonial crowds.
He received 1st prize at INSITA the 2d Triennial in Bratislava and 1st prize in Zagreb (Triennial Naivi ‘ 73)
Exhibitions: Nederlandse Naïeve kunst, exhibition catalogue Frans Halsmuseum, Vishal Haarlem, 1976–1977)
References: Nederlandse Naïeve kunst, tentoonstellingscatalogus (Frans Halsmuseum, Vishal) Haarlem, 1976;
Van der Endt, Nico; Lexicon Nederlandse naïeve kunst van de twintigste eeuw / Lexicon of twentieth century Dutch naïve art, Venlo/Antwerpen, 1995, pp. 88-89.

Leo Neervoort
1908 Den Haag, The Netherlands - 1981 Den Haag, The Netherlands