Willem Gerard Hofker

Willem Gerard Hofker was a Dutch painter, draftsman and etcher who studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam.

In 1922, Hofker won the Cohen Gosschalk-prize. He Married Maria Rueter, the daughter of Georg Rueter, painter and lector at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, in 1930.

Hofker is currently best known for his Balinese landscapes and his depictions Balinese dancers. He furthermore produced a large amount of portraits, still lifes and landscapes.

Hofker moved to the Dutch Indies with his wife in 1936, ending up on Bali, where he would produce a large amount of work. After the Second World War, Hofker and his wife moved back to the Netherlands and settled in Amsterdam. Upon his return, Hofker was confronted with the new Dutch artistic landscape, in which his figurative work gained little recognition amongst his peers. Luckily, his status as a renowned portrait painter was not affected, which is why portraiture became his main source of income.

Hofker created over 800 portraits during his lifetime, for universities, banks, large corporations and even the queen of the Netherlands. Hofker passed away in Amsterdam in 1981.