Nationality American Name Charles Bolsius | Died 1983 Education Black Mountain College | |
Full Name Charles William Bolsius Born June 23, 1907 's-Hertogenbosch, Holland Movement exprestionism, social realism Known for Painting, Furniture, Printmaking, Wood carving | ||
Charles William Bolsius was born in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands on 23 June 1907. He studied art formally in Europe moving to New Mexico in the early 1930s. He settled in Tucson in 1934. In that year he was painting, printing, building, and hand carving fine furniture and doors.
Life and work
Charles Bolsius's sophisticated artistic sensibly was influenced by German and Dutch expressionists including: Leo Gestel, Jan Toorop, Kees van Dongen, and Emil Nolde while embracing the scale and environmental tonality of the American West.
He exhibited his art in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and San Francisco. He designed and built numerous modified territorial/pueblo revival buildings in and around old Fort Lowell on the edge of Tucson and was a member of many Tucson art organizations.
His wood work can be seen throughout the old Fort Lowell Historic District, Arizona State University Kerr House, in homes in Tucson's Catalina Foothills (including the front door of 2540 East Camino La Zorrela), the Church Doors of Sasabe, Arizona and the doors to the Our Lady of Sorrows chapel at San Xavier del Bac.
Bolsius died in March 1983 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona.