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About Henry Balink
Born Hendrikus Cornelius Balink in Amsterdam on 10 June , the artist undertook academic art instruction in Rotterdam then at the Amsterdam academy (1909-14). One student work reportedly involved 300 preparatory sketches. Balink went to New York to copy works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He moved to Chicago to carry out portrait commissions. In 1917 Balink went to Taos, New Mexico, inspired by a travel poster, and arrived just in time to take part in the art museum’s opening show. After a return trip to Europe, he settled in Santa Fe in 1923. Four years later he was commissioned by the Marland Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma to paint portraits of Oklahoma Indian chiefs. The writer in El Palacio (June 1927) called his exhibit "striking," and mentioned that he had built a pueblo style studio home in Santa Fe. From the typical dark Dutch palette, Balink moved to lighter, brighter colors, influenced by the New Mexico sun. Balink died in Santa Fe in 1963.
LITERATURE:
Dawdy, Doris O. Artists of the American West. 2 vols. Chicago: The Swallow Press, 1974, vol. 1, p. 14.
Samuels, Peggy and Harold Samuels. The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. New York: Doubleday and Co., 1976, p. 19.
Harmsen, Dorothy. American Western Art. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1977, pp. 10-11. |
Paintings by Henry Balink
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Indian Head |
| oil on canvas, 8½ x 8¼ in. |
| signed: upper left |
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Click Picture to Enlarge
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