Jan Schonk, a brief history

Jan Schonk was born in 1889 and he lived till 1976.

He started his own pottery in Oosterbeek in 1920, but it was not a great succes to him. In the period of 1923-1924 he lived in Amsterdamwhere he was a regular visitor of Artis, the amsterdam Zoo. At the zoo, he studied animals for his graphic works.  In the year 1925 he started to work for the well known faience factory “Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland”, located in the city of Gouda. He shared his room there with the faience painter Jo Bennis, who would paint all his tiles. Jan Schonk started out with cloisonne tiles depicting animals. Some of these are based on his graphic works, see the picture from the book “Misleide Majesteit” elsewhere on the site.

Jo Bennis paints all the tiles. The total number of tiles made is unknown but is surely not so big.

Jan Schonk leaves the Plateelbkkerij Zuid-Holland in 1930 en returns to his work as a graphic artist.

 


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