Eli Content (1943–2022)
Painter, Draftsman, Collagist
Biography
- Born: 14 August 1943, Vevey, Switzerland; parents were Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution.
Married 2007 to Dutch politician and author Karina Schaapman
- Family relocated post-war to the Netherlands; raised in Hilversum.- Early work included culinary roles and a kibbutz in Israel.
Education
Ateliers ’63 (Haarlem), 1974–1975.
Artistic Career & Exhibitions
- First exhibited at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1976.
- Solo exhibition, Museum Fodor (Amsterdam), 1979.
- Exhibited at major venues: Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Barbican Art Gallery (London), Jewish Museum (New York), Benitez Gallery (Madrid), and Kunsttempel (Kassel).
- Jewish Museum Amsterdam commissions:
• Painted Sukkah (1989)
• Monument of the Living (2000)
• Tree of Life stained-glass windows, children’s museum mural (2006)
• Sukkah for the Portuguese Synagogue (2011)
- Retrospective: “So Much I Gazed on Beauty”, Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam (2019).
- Later exhibitions include “Lust for Life + more” (Stedelijk Museum Kampen, 2022) and several Galerie Onrust shows.
Publications
Picture book “Au Commencement”, Gallimard, 2016.
Teaching
- Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
- Art Academy Kampen
- Art Academy Zwolle
Collections
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
- Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam
- AkzoNobel Art Foundation
Artistic Style
Rooted in abstract expression and collage; infused with Jewish heritage and biblical references, such as Genesis and themes of creation.