Biography
De Veluwse Primitieven’ (tr: ‘the Veluvian Primaevals’) is the collective name of a series of woodcuts with recurring themes such as ‘the city/cityscapes,’ but also advertising- and poster art.
Edwim Peters is inspired, among other things, by the graphic art of the first half of the 20th century and Japanese printmaking . Atelier Edwim Peters (AEP) works on free graphics but also on commission.
Edwim Peters (1965) works and lives in Arnhem. In 1989 he completed the training for gold- and silversmiths at the Vakschool Schoonhoven. After two years of HKArnhem (free art) he studied theatre and has been working as an independent theatre maker since 1999.
The woodcuts and/or postcards are for sale. For questions or reactions, please feel free to contact AEP.
About my work…
“Whereas my earliest woodcuts (late nineties) initially only served as illustration (flyers, posters) and inspiration for short theatre performances, over time my graphic work became increasingly detached from my theatre work.
Inspired by Japanese woodcut prints with scenes of Japanese beauties and actor portraits, I made – very freely! – woodcuts of caricatured portraits that could populate my theatre scripts.
They are images with a distinctive style. We see portraits of fictional characters, These figures are cut-out flat, without any depth and shadow effect and positioned in front of empty, shallow backgrounds. Style aspects these prints have in common with the portraits of actors and courtesans of Japanese woodcuts.
Because of the typical atmosphere that evokes these black and white images, combined with the primitive design and drawing style, I devised the collective name ‘the Veluvian Primaevals’ (translated: ‘De Veluwse Primitieven’. De Veluwe is a Dutch region in the province of Gelderland)
Inspired by my immediate surroundings in Arnhem-North (the places of my childhood), I started making woodcuts with familiar cityscapes: the house where I grew up on the high up quarter of Alteveer, the trolley lines of line 3, the Apeldoornsebrug.
And further downhill: city inwards. The Janssingels, Looierstraat, the John Frost Bridge, the Eusebius tower, the Brussels houses of the Spijkerkwartier, Sint Marten, the Rijnkade, etc…
And even further from home, into the country. Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Franeker, Lochem, Castricum… A number of these woodcuts were made on private commission. In general these are “portraits” of houses at the request of the residents/owners.
From 2010, another application for my graphic work came into being through the collaboration with Okimono Arnhem, a T-shirt brand. A long range of shirts, printed with existing and commissioned woodcuts saw the light of day. The designs were part of an Arnhem line, an Eindhoven line, a Berlin line and a Düsseldorf line.
To conclude, from 2012 atelier Edwim Peters also designs woodcuts for various cultural prizes: the Heuvelinkprijs (a biennial Arnhem architecture prize for the best new building) and the Prodesseprijs (the prize of the Arnhem Historical Society Prodesse Conamur)
Enjoy!”