Over Herman Brood

The Dutch artist Herman Brood (1946-2001) was born on November 5, 1946 at Fuchiastraat 34 in Zwolle.

He started drawing at a young age, but when he noticed that girls were highly respected as a musician, he learned to play the piano.

At the suggestion of Hans la Faille (famous percussionist in collaboration with Herman Deinum with, among others, Sweet d'Buster and Cuby and the Blizzards), his first boyfriend.

Herman also made his first LP together with Hans la Faille on which he also sang (The Flash and Dance band).

At the age of 18 he went to the art academy in Arnhem. After three months he got fed up and started playing in a band. This is where his musical career started.

In the 1980s he bumped into his childhood friend Ivo de Lange. Ivo had an art library and the gentlemen decided to join forces.

In Ivo's company IQ he had his own studio where more than 1200 paintings were made and more than 70 different screen prints published by Ivo were signed.

Brood was a born artist in his music, his poems and especially in his paintings and screen prints.

His work shows enormous passion, which he managed to translate brilliantly into shape and color thanks to his perfect mastery of technique.

The great interest in his work was a great incentive for Herman Brood.

Just like during the performances with his band, the interaction with the audience is an encouragement and a source of inspiration at the same time.

Brood worked with dedication, throwing himself into a hallucinatory adventure again and again with brushes, paint and spray cans, from which he emerged unchanged as the winner.

He translated the countless impressions and experiences that he collected in his turbulent life into art with a capital A.

Art for which interest only increased because authenticity can be recognized flawlessly.

Herman Brood always opted for a tangible image, where the slogans remind you of a cartoon drawing.

Most of his paintings in- screen printing show what Herman Brood was all about: music, relationships, relaxation and love!

Although Brood lived in Amsterdam for a large part of his life, he was a Zwolle resident through and through.

He was not always proud of this, but Zwolle was regularly central to his work.

For the last 15 years of his life, Herman was a guest in Zwolle for about 5 days every 3 weeks at IQ Kunstuitleen of friend Ivo de Lange, who also took care of a large part of his art affairs; more than 1200 paintings were manufactured by him at the time in the Marslanden in Zwolle.

He also signed more than 70 editions of screen prints here.

Many of his visits were recorded on video (over 60 hours of footage).

A film was made from this video material in 2015 by Gwen Jansen, called “Art Start Drrr Not An”.

This film premiered on October 10, 2015 in Zwolle and then did it again in Tuschinski Amsterdam.

This film was in theaters for four and a half months after which it was released on DVD.

This also shows how a top artist like Rob Scholte speaks positively about him and highly appreciates his art.

Charles Thompson, Black Francis of The Pixies, is also inspired by Herman Brood, as evidenced by his interviews and the CD “Bluefinger” that he released, inspired by Brood.

In addition to film material and art, Ivo has kept many of Brood's personal items.

These, together with material from the Brood family, are exhibited in the Herman Brood Museum.