Discover conceptual artist, installation artist, draftsperson Bas Jan Ader

Name variations

This field records and makes accessible name variations, as found in sources. Alternate spellings, nicknames, maiden names - with or without the married name - are included in this category.

: Basjan
Ader, Bastiaan Johan Christiaan
also worked under Basjan

Qualifications: conceptual artist, installation artist, draftsperson, video artist, photographer, performance artist

Nationality/school: Dutch

Born: Winschoten 1942-04-19

Deceased: Atlantic Ocean 1975-07-09/1976-04-18
Gaade (1985) claims: 1942-1976; departed on 9 July 1975 off of Cape Cod with a small sailing boat towards Gulf Stream to let the current and wind take him to Europe but was lost at sea; on 18 April 1976 his half sunken boat was found by Spanish fishermen off the coast of Ireland

This person/entity in other databases

5 hits in RKDimages as artist
25 hits in RKDlibrary as subject
3 hits in RKDlibrary as author

Suggested searches in RKDartists&

Biographical information

Education: Instituut voor Kunstnijverheidsonderwijs (Amsterdam)

1959-1960; class mates i.a. Wim T. Schippers and Ger van Elk; as a 19-year-old student gained some renown in Washington by having a solo of pen drawings (mostly human figures)
Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles)

ca. 1963-1965; was accepted after taking additional exams, got his BFA here
Claremont Graduate School (Claremont, California)

1965-Feb 1967 course in photography; MFA with graduation show 'IMPLOSION - Bas Jan Ader'
Claremont Graduate School (Claremont, California)

1967-1969 study Philosophy

Active in

Beerta (Groningen) 1956
until 1956
Velsen-Zuid 1956 - 1957
Beerta (Groningen) 1957 - 1958
Doorn (Utrecht) 1958 - 1959
Amsterdam (stad) 1959 - 1966
Bethesda (Maryland) 1960 - 1961
via The International Christian Youth Exchange; took art classes at Walter Johnson High School and got his own studio; several exhibitions
Drieborg 1961
resided at his mother's
1961 - 1963
in 1961 travelled via Spain to Marokko and left Marokko in 1962 as crew member on a sailing yacht via Panama canal to California; arrived in San Diego after an 11 month journey
Los Angeles (Californië) 1963 - 1965
residence permit based on correspondency for the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden in Groningen
Claremont (Californië) 1965 - 1966
studies
Europa 1967-07 - 1967-08
travels Europe, i.a. Scandinavia
Claremont (Californië) 1967 - 1972
shows in Netherlands and Germany
Los Angeles (Californië) 1972 - 1975
moves to Los Angeles; in 1973 moves into studio on Sunset Boulevard

Teacher at academy/university: Immaculate Heart College (Los Angeles)
1973
University of California (Irvine)
from spring 1974 to 1975

born in

active in

died in

Subjects This field specifies the various subject categories or genres that constitute the oeuvre of the artist in question. The contents of this field are generally based more on the documentation available at the RKD than on the literature.: figure, landscape (genre)

Product: artists' book

Literature

Literature in RKDLibrary: 25 hits in RKDlibrary as subject
3 hits in RKDlibrary as author

Scheen 1969-1970 , vol. 1, p. 6 (as: Ader, Bastiaan Johan Christiaan ('Bas Jan');*)
Arnhem 1971 , vol. 1, p. 112.11, 112.19, 195
Van Barneveld et al. 1984 , p. 7-8
Jacobs 1993
Boomgaard/Rutten 2003 , p. 50, 122, 170
Van Mechelen et al. 2019 , p. 213

Gaade's Kunstwijzer 1985, p. 10 (NFM)
Foto, 1989, 3, p. 85 (NFM)
Album (tent.cat. Boymans Rotterdam 1995) (NFM)
cat.tent. Rotterdam (museum Boijmans van Beuningen) 2006
E. de Groot, 'Beautiful sea: De verzamelde werken van Bas Jan Ader', Desipientia 14 (2007), nr. 1, p. 37-42

documentation photo collection Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden

Documentation RKD

This field specifies the location of the various RKD documentation materials. Most of the locations refer to our art-historical image documentation. In addition, you will find references to press documentation (clippings and short articles) here.

photo negatives at photo dept., also see collection Preciosa PDO

External links: http://www.basjanader.com

Permalink: https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/462

Creation date: 1991-08-27; Last modified date: 2023-05-16

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Bas Jan Ader

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