Anton Rooskens
Anton Rooskens, 1906-1976
Dutch painter
He was one of the oldest members in the CoBrA group. He had already developed his own style before the group was established. His experiences of the war and impressions of artifacts he had seen at an exhibition from New Guinea in 1945 strongly influenced his painting.
Roosken's paintings took on a more free and spontaneous style after coming in contact with Corneille and Karel Appel in 1946. In 1948 he joined the Dutch Experimental Group and later became a CoBrA member.
However, the cooperation didn't last for very long due to disagreements. This can be noticed as reproductions of his works are conspiciously absent in the CoBrA publications. A common interest he had shared with CoBrA was primitive art and drawings made by children.
