A.N.M. (Anton) Karssen

Dutch artist Anton Nicolaas Marie Karssen was born in The Hague on May 4, 1945 and died on August 28, 2019 in the city Rotterdam. His nickname was Ton Karssen and he was a painter.

Background Anton Karssen

Anton Karssen was born just after the Second World War on the National Memorial Day in the Netherlands. He grew up in The Hague and comes from a family with several generations of artists and art dealers. Kasparus Karsen (1810-1896) and his son Johann Eduard Karsen (1860-1941) have a direct family relationship with Anton. Both were born in Amsterdam. That their last name is written differently is due to a writing error in the baptismal register of Kasparus in 1810.

At a young age he developed his own artistic talent. Anton has not followed any academic training and is therefore self-taught. He painted in multiple styles, but is best known as a copyist of the Dutch Romantic School. Anton made Dutch landscapes and cityscapes in the style of Charles Leickert (1816-1907), Cornelis Springer (1817-1891) and Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870). His detailed Old Dutch winter landscapes with skaters in particular are of great interest to art lovers.

Anton Karssen also painted in an impressionistic style after the example of the Hague School. He had a strong preference for the Dutch painters Bernardus Johannes Blommers (1845-1914) and Jan Zoetelief Tromp (1872-1947). Anton mainly painted sunny beach scenes from the city Scheveningen. He also made a painting of Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana on the beach of this seaside town.

His working period is from 1960 to 2019. In 1973 Anton moved from The Hague to Rotterdam. He signed his paintings with A. Karssen and A.N.M. Karssen. Much of his work has been exhibited and sold in America, Australia, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. In Perth, Anton won a public prize during an exhibition.

Anton Karssen gave painting lessons to the Hague painter Jan Hendrik Jacob Jasper (1937-2018).