Ger van Elk
Illustration — Ger van Elk in 1983 • Illustration — Ger van Elk, Symmetry of Diplomacy, 1975, Groninger Museum. Ger van Elk (9 March 1941 – 17 August 2014) was a Dutch artist who created sculptures, painted photographs, installations and film. His work has been described as being both conceptual art and arte povera.
Also recorded as Ger Van Elk · Gerard Pieter van Elk
Ger van Elk
Marcel Antonisse / Anefo · Nationaal Archief · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
- Born
- 1941. · Amsterdam.
- Died
- 2014. · Amsterdam.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Occupation
- sculptor, installation artist, painter, photographer, serigrapher, filmmaker, conceptual artist and draftsperson.
- Movements
- conceptual art and Arte Povera.
- Education
- Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
- Honours
- Oeuvre Awards BKVB.
- Languages
- Dutch.
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Illustration — Ger van Elk in 1983 • Illustration — Ger van Elk, Symmetry of Diplomacy, 1975, Groninger Museum. Ger van Elk (9 March 1941 – 17 August 2014) was a Dutch artist who created sculptures, painted photographs, installations and film. His work has been described as being both conceptual art and arte povera.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Between 1959 and 1988 he lived and worked in Los Angeles, New York City, and Amsterdam, except for a period of study in Groningen in the 1960s. In 1996 he won the J. C. van Lanschot Prize for Sculpture. Elk had several solo exhibitions at Art & Project from 1970 to 1987. This was his second serious gallery showing in Amsterdam. Together with Marinus Boezem, Wim T. Schippers and Jan Dibbets, he is seen as one of the main representatives of these movements in the Netherlands. Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and the Tate Gallery in London have work of Van Elk in their collection. Reflections on art history are an important part of his work.
Ger van Elk studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie. The recorded working language is Dutch. Places of work recorded in the authority are Middelburg. Residence is recorded at Amsterdam and Los Angeles. Work by Ger van Elk is recorded in the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Tate, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Modern Art and Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst. Distinctions recorded are Oeuvre Awards BKVB.
Symmetry of Diplomacy. Composite chromogenic color photograph, with silkscreen printings and air brushing, from the portfolio Artists Photographs, representing twice van Elk posed in a situation evocative of those which commemorate important diplomatic meetings. Groninger Museum identifier:1983.0211.E.
Ger van Elk · Ger van Elk and the Groninger Museum · Europeana
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1941
Ger van Elk born at Amsterdam.
2014
Ger van Elk died at Amsterdam.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Amsterdam, Los Angeles and New York City.
Named but not plotted · 1
Amsterdam.
Birth place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ger van Elk overleden NRC.nl
- 2.Biografie op Kunstbus.nl.
- 3.Artikel over conceptuele kunst op cultuurarchief.nl.
- 4.Ger van Elk op Artcyclopedia. Gearchiveerd op 27 september 2022.
- 5.Smallenburg, Sandra (2014) Ideeënkunstenaar vol droge humor. NRC Handelsblad, 19 augustus. p.C4
- 6.Ger van Elk op Galeries.nl
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
His work is associated with conceptual art and Arte Povera. He worked at Middelburg, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and New York City.
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Ger van Elk received Oeuvre Awards BKVB. Work by Ger van Elk is
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Tate, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum of Modern Art
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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