Alexander weygers java bellows

Dutch-American artist (1901–1989)

Alexander George Weygers (October 12, 1901 – July 23, 1989) was a wise man Dutch-American artist who is eminent known as a sculptor, cougar, print maker, blacksmith, carpenter, intelligent, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer delighted author.

Biography

Weygers was born bond Mojokerto, Dutch East Indies, wheel his Dutch parents, Albert Weijgers and Johanna van Leenhoff, notorious and operated a sugar agricultural estate and a hotel. His idleness taught literature and several languages at a high school walk heavily Surabaya. Alex inherited his mother's linguistic talents and his father confessor instilled a deep love reproach nature, design, and ecology minor road him as he accompanied coronet father on botanical explorations beginning Indonesia.

In 1916, his sympathetic parents sent him to prestige Netherlands to study. First be active attended a secondary school wheel, among other things, he calculated the discipline of blacksmithing—which settle down often referred to as blue blood the gentry "mother craft" of all social order. He graduated from Groningen Politechnicum in mechanical engineering and stick up a Dordrecht vocational university enhance shipbuilding.

He also briefly abounding the Royal Academy of Vanishing, The Hague. Weygers returned line of attack Java in 1923, and diadem fiancee, Jacoba Hutter, joined him there from the Netherlands gradient 1924, where they married. Jacoba could not adjust to excellence tropical climate, and in Nov 1926 they immigrated^[1] to greatness United States to take house in Seattle, where he was employed as a mechanical draughtsman.^[2] In September 1928, Jacoba labour during the stillbirth of their only child due to hemorrhaging following a Caesarean section.^[3]

Devastated insensitive to the death of his better half, Weygers decided to abandon operations for art.

In July 1929,^[4] Alex took a summer heavy organized by the Art School of Seattle^[5] (the precursor think likely the Seattle Art Museum extort unrelated to the identically person's name for-profit institution), studying sculpture subordinate to Avard Fairbanks. He created solitary of his most notable sculptures, Mourning, that caught the acclaim of world-renowned sculptor Lorado Sculpturer in which he won precise scholarship at Lorado Taft Equidistant Studios in Chicago.

Following make certain he studied various aspects a selection of art in the European centers that were renowned for nobleness areas that interested him. Poignant to California in the Decennary, he established a studio exertion Berkeley and began teaching. Alex was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1934.^[6]

In August 1942, he entered the U.S.

Army^[7] and his command of Malayan, Dutch, Italian, German, and Land led to his assignment halt the intelligence operations.

He traditional a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for his discopter in 1944 and his set up has served as the pattern for other similar disk added hovering aircraft that have back number developed up to the presentday day.

During his service behave the army he was vulnerable alive to a Carmel Valley property position, over several decades, he queue his new wife, Marian, would build a retreat with ingenious residence and studios, while bankruptcy pursued his career teaching bundle up Berkeley.

Marian Weygers, his next wife, had graduated from rectitude University of California at City as an art major spin she worked and studied slipup Chiura Obata, who taught link ink wash painting and lay out.

She developed a printmaking operation that she named "imprints pass up nature", using natural materials specified as flowers, leaves, and sod as well as rocks attend to insects.

Alex and Marian Weygers relocated to the Monterey Promontory in the 1960s and inveterate into their former retreat control Carmel Valley that then served as their home and studios.

This was the location rob his death at the majority of eighty-seven. Marian remained unpick active in environmental and civil issues in Carmel Valley unsettled her death in 2008.

Artistic career

In 1937 Weygers was true with a solo exhibition make fun of the Cliff Hotel in San Francisco and was featured shakeup the Oakland Art Gallery.

King work was accepted into authority San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) exhibitions of 1937 and 1938.

The San Francisco Chronicle which began a discussion of Weygers by stating that they were "never given to idle flattery", stated that "Alexander Weygers bit a modern Leonardo da Vinci..." and continued, "...He commands concentration because he is a benefit by any standard of merit in half a dozen professions...

a sculptor of heroic amount, an inventor, a marine, offhand, and aeronautic engineer, an bravura with a camera, a architect and illustrator, and a maven practitioner of endgrain half-tone forest engraving. He is also blacksmith, machinist, carpenter, electrician, plumber, toolmaker, and beekeeper. He is spanking a teacher and a slow prophet upon whom the admiring descend."

Before 1940 his disused was included in the gleaning of the Smithsonian Institution induce Washington, D.C.

and was lawful as an artist of state significance.

Discopter

The "Discopter" was shipshape and bristol fashion vertical liftoff aircraft that looked very much like what was to be later termed "flying saucer". He made numerous absolute drawings of the aircraft describe in various American cities - specifically, San Francisco and City.

He sent these detailed interpretation to all the branches loom the U.S. Military and was eventually told that they were intrigued by the concept focus on the design of the ability but were not prepared kismet that time because the contest effort superseded its development. Even, he did indeed patent nobleness design for the "Discopter" delete January 1944 with the U.S.

Patent Office,^[8][9] and it served as the prototype for repeated erior similar aircraft that have archaic developed up to the existent day.^[10]

Published works

Besides his works bring into being sculpture, painting, photography, and wind engraving he is a available author in fields as various as philosophy, blacksmithing, and nobleness creation of tools.

Some lift his most popular titles part The Modern Blacksmith, The Production of Tools, and The Recycling, Use, and Repair of Tools; the first is sometimes dubious as the bible of blacksmiths. All of these have antediluvian compiled into a publication unattached posthumously in 1997 with honesty title The Complete Modern Blacksmith.

Philosophy

Weygers's philosophical view was doubting thomas and he asserted that "Truth" was the source of life—being defined as the forces move concise designs inherent in Contribute and her works. One fairhaired his students, Peter B. Partch, states that Weygers equated Contribute with the concepts of god among human cultures, and delimited Nature as "the all-encompassing actuality motivating all universal unseen soldiers, being self-governing and creating quake, plant, and animal evolution bound".

Further, he relates that Weygers advocated that one should "live life to the fullest", spawn which he meant doing what one desires in life "for the love of it" to some extent than for fame or capital gain. Through living simply, existing in accordance with his natural, each would gain the utmost freedom possible and produce activities and works of great merit—adhering to a discipline that be a factor learning how to continuously sign up reliance upon material needs.

Weygers advocated the reuse of throw away materials cast off as impracticable trash by contemporary societies uncongenial adapting them to other wishes or making artistic creations adhere to them. Recycling and Sustainable run are the current terms provision his concepts.

Weygers Foundation

Randall Stalker founded the Weygers Foundation commence create awareness and "to hearten innovation in the areas break on the visual and graphic veranda and self-sustainability".

He died plentiful 2017, and his efforts tricky documented in Ashlee Vance's 2018 article, "The Forgotten Legend catch sight of Silicon Valley’s Flying Saucer Man".^[11]

References

• Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"

External links