Co Westerik

Dutch visual artist Jacobus "Co" Westerik was born in The Hague and received his education at the Royal Academy of Art in the same city from 1942 to 1947. In 1948, he made a study trip to the United States before settling in The Hague as an independent artist. He was a member of the Verve group, which he co-founded with Herman Berserik, Jan van Heel, Willem Hussem, and Jaap Nanninga in 1951, and dissolved in 1957.

Westerik worked as a lecturer at the International School and the German International School from 1954 to 1958, and from 1955 to 1958, he also taught at the Vrije Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague. He served as a lecturer in figure drawing at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague from 1958 to 1971 and also lectured at Ateliers '63 in Haarlem between 1960 and 1970. In 1971, he moved to Rotterdam and established a studio in the south of France where he worked until 2010.

Westerik won the Jacob Maris Prize thrice: in 1951 and 1955 for painting, and in 1953 for drawing. He also received several other awards, including the Rembrandt Prize of the city of Leiden, the State Prize for Visual Arts and Architecture, Cultural Prize of South Holland, and the Hendrik Chabot Prize of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. In 1999, he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion and was made an honorary member of Pulchri Studio in 2005.

Westerik passed away on 10 September 2018 in Rotterdam at the age of 94.