Charles Bolsius

Craft and Grit

Born in Holland in 1893, Charles Bolsius lived in the American Southwest from 1930 until his death in 1983. During those years, he translated his experiences into paintings, drawings, woodblock prints, architecture, and hand-carved furniture and doors. His canvases are filled with unexpectedly bold colors, expressive, emotive brushstrokes, and dynamic skies, capturing the moments between the dramas of the desert.

Art and Design

For half a century, Bolsius explored artistic themes of light, composition, solace, landscape, and the experience of nature, all imbued with the ideals of the rugged and expansive Western landscape. His paintings shifted between Arizona impressionism and social realism, rendered in loose, bold brushstrokes. His softly sketched graphite drawings capture the essence of place, while his dark, inky woodblock prints draw inspiration from the European expressionist movement.