Leo Vroman, poet, scientist and artist, celebrated his 95th birthday on 10 April 2010. To commemorate this occasion the majority of his visual work was shown for the first time at the Weesperzijde gallery in Amsterdam. This exhibition took place in April-May 2010.

Leo Vroman is primarily recognised as a poet in the Netherlands. He published more than fifty poetry collections for some of which he earned prestigious prizes such as the P.C. Hooft prize for poetry. In America he is know as a scientist. His visual art remained relatively obscure in comparison. However he had been drawing for most of his life. Just as his literary, poetic and scientific work (which could be called the poetry of science) were intertwined with each other so was his visual art.

The exhibition displayed a large number of unknown drawings from the private collection of Leo and Tineke Vroman and their daughters Geri and Peggy, supplemented with work from the Dutch Literary Museum and from private collections. This was also the first time the Camp Diary was shown in digital form.

2010 Leo Vroman Artist, the book

The book ‘Leo Vroman Artist’ was published to commemorate his 95th birthday. This book was one of the qualifiers for the Best Dutch Book Designs 2010 and was nominated for the German Design Award.

The book has so many qualities, it contains many different techniques and imagery; cartoons, comic strips, self portraits, pages from his Camp Diary, illustrated poems, quick sketches, computer generated work, and the complex ‘subway drawings’ he made during his commute to and from the university in New York. This book is not only the first time we really get to know Leo Vroman as an artist but also it is remarkable as he is the central character and leads you through the book. It is a delightfully playful and also moving book. A book that does justice to Vroman’s vigorous versatility. A book that you can just pick up and let the pictures tell the story.

Leo Vroman Tekenaar, ISBN 978 94 90647 018 (in Dutch)

The book was reprinted in 2019 and is available in bookshops.