Joop Sanders

Art critic Lawrence Campbell in describing Sanders' work for Art in America in 1987 at Alfred Kren Gallery in New York remarked, "These paintings are like spirit photographs in which the spirit reaches out and touches the viewer. Barnett Newman once said to Sanders on seeing paintings like these, “Of all the painters working in the context of color field, you seem to me to be the only one who, like, me, concerns himself with the humanist spirit in painting."

Horizon Magazine's art critic, Hiram Butler, described Sanders' painting "Pantagruel, 1955" as roughly painted and reflects abstract-expressionist Angst at its fullest. Yet, like its namesake from Rabelais' work, it is also good-humored. American commercial colors elevate the pitch and serve to delight. Along with the serious express there is a capricious and fanciful, almost mocking stroke. Sanders' "Gong, 1979", places the power of abstract-expressionist color and painterliness within a more formal and refined structure. Shapes are larger than in his earlier work. the dominant purples, deep greens, and pinks are rich and more closely hued. The combination results in a powerful, serene rhythm. When asked about reincorporating earlier tendencies in his art, Sanders responds, "the artist is like Sisyphus, punished by Zeus to try forever to roll a rock uphill which forever rolls back upon him."

Sanders was one of twenty original members and a charter member of The Club, which was located at 39 East 8th Street. Sanders married Isca Jörgensen at The Club on December 27, 1950.

In the mid-1950's Sanders left New York for Europe. In 1960 he was the first young American painter to be given a one-man show at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which played a crucial role in introducing advanced American art to Europe. Sanders established a considerable European reputation. This move—just at the time abstract expressionism was being accepted in America—resulted, however, in his being overlooked as one of the first younger artists to contribute to the style in New York. Sanders returned to New York in 1959, where his work became almost monochromatic and fieldlike. It never was impersonal; he always retained an emotional content. During the 1960s, Sanders created sectional paintings which would be arranged in a variety of configurations by the owner or even construed as three-dimensional sculpture.

Sanders exhibited extensively in Europe in the 1950's. His inclusion in exhibitions with the Zero Group, curated by Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni connected his work with many of the leading Italian artists of the period, including Manzoni.

In 1940 Sanders met Elaine de Kooning and Willem de Kooning at a concert featuring the music of Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland and William Schuman. By the mid-1940s, Elaine de Kooning had painted approximately a dozen portraits of Sanders, which seem to express aloneness and androgyny. Sanders spoke at Elaine de Kooning's memorial service.

Sanders was married for 68 years to the lieder singer Isca Sanders-Jörgensen (1925-2019). His son is the sculptor, John Sanders and his daughter is the attorney, Karin Greenfield-Sanders. His son-in-law is the photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and his grandchildren include artist Isca Greenfield-Sanders and filmmaker Liliana Greenfield-Sanders.

Joop Sanders (born October 6, 1921) is a Dutch-American painter, educator, and founding member of the American Abstract Expressionist group. He is the youngest member of the first generation of the New York School.

Sanders was born on October 6, 1921 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and emigrated to the United States in 1939. He studied in 1940 at the Art Students League of New York, in New York City, for six months with artist George Grosz.