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Josje Crince le Roy
Lives and works in Amsterdam

The basis of the visual work of Josje Crince Le Roy is always the observation.
Her starting point is reality. Abstraction is another form of reality for her.
The work contains both abstract and figurative forms.
The landscapes are often somewhat abstract; the portraits are more realistic.

Her work is partly traveling. From 1977 she travels through Asia many times.
Indonesia, India, Burma and Cambodia are recurring themes in her art.
Since 1984 she has been exhibiting regularly in the Netherlands and abroad.

The work of Josje Crince Le Roy consists of drawings watercolors acrylic and oil paintings and mixed techniques. Her collages can originate from the merging of travel-made works and work that she has made in her studio in Amsterdam.

On her journey she makes sketches, drawings, watercolors and photographs to record her travel experiences.
In her studio in Amsterdam these sketches and watercolors are incorporated in her paintings, often in larger compositions. This is done in a variety of techniques: watercolor, mixed techniques, collages of paper and wood and oil on canvas and panels. Photos and items taken are also used by her. Sometimes for inspiration, sometimes very literally stuck.

In 1977 she makes her first trip to Indonesia, homeland of her father. A very special experience, which has profoundly influenced her work.

“I was looking for something in painting, but I did not know what – suddenly I saw it: light and color, landscapes like I had never seen before.”

The color, light and atmosphere in Indonesia were so intense and special that many travels followed, with more and more drawing and painting materials in the travel bag.

“Also art, usually religious expressions, sometimes centuries old, sometimes small objects made for a ceremony, touched me through the intensity, the wonder, of what I saw there, became the subject of my work.”

Josje Crince Le Roy about her work:
‘My drawings are sometimes very small drawings from a notebook, but they can also be larger drawings or watercolors. I love drawing and often in and around temples. The drawings are made on a trip. Depending on the situation on site I use pencil, chalk or watercolor on paper. Sometimes I have a piece of paper and linen for me to work on a large size, then I also use acrylic paint, oil paint dries too slowly for traveling. For years, the offerings to the gods in Bali were my main source of inspiration. “

“Initially I painted very realistic. Later the paintings became more abstract. More and more color and light played a role. “

After Indonesia many trips to other countries follow: Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka and very often back to Indonesia. Thailand, Burma and Laos become the subject of large abstract compositions.

“I try to preserve the essence of the visual experience. Light, color and atmosphere are more important than form. The work is never so realistic that it is completely ‘finished’. You can add something to it. The viewer’s imagination can finish the image, as it were. “

After a trip through Cambodia, Josje Crince Le Roy becomes fascinated by Angkor Wat. In addition to the temples, the mysterious heads of god-king Surya Varman, the keeper of the sun, the apsaras, the celestial nymphs and the god Ganesha, with the elephant head, are the subject of her paintings.

‘Angkor Wat’ project, in the Van Gendt Hallen Amsterdam

3 banners van 10 m high en 1,5 m wide

Drawings and studies for the ‘Angkor Wat’ project

Working on and around the temples of Angkor Wat

In recent years, Josje Crince Le Roy regularly goes to India for a few months. She will portray the Indian women she has come to know.

Sunita, a saleswoman on the beach in Goa, was 13 when Josje met her; 15 years later, she is the mother of three children and her favorite model.

At work in India, in her studio in Goa

At a temple in Laos

Open Ateliers Oostelijke Binnenstad Amsterdam

Josje Crince Le Roy teaches art tours and lessons in art history.

website: Josje Crince le Roy