Jan Cox
(c)image: M HKA
Works of Cox from the Seventies are characterised by exhaustive reflections on life and work. In the painful and dramatic beauty of the Iliad cycle, Cox draws on his experiences from the Second World War. Central motifs here are evil, violence and thoughts of revenge. By way of contrast, in 1976 he begins a complimentary series of paintings for which Mozart's 'Masonic' opera The Magic Flute acted as impulse. But after 'the war of attrition' of his Iliad cycle, Cox was unable to bring this project to final fruition.
In autumn 1976 he embarks on journeys to two far-flung destinations, Chartres and Arizona, and each would in its own way make a lasting impression upon him. In his journal notes, Cox describes how these two monuments engendered a manner or 'rebirth': "I immediately made the connection between the awe I felt at the Grand Canyon with my experience in Chartres. The effect was even more overwhelming, and I could understand how people who believe in God would fall to their knees - but it stirred me in an opposite sense - no matter how man might imagine God, it is utterly inadequate; man knows beauty, but nature is impervious to this opinion. The revelation of absolute chance, with neither reason nor purpose, became my all-encompassing experience. My solitary trek of two days and two nights through the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona completed this unforgettable adventure. It was a different Jan Cox who was resurrected here. A chastened one? Perhaps."* (Jan Cox, Dagboeknotities (Journal notes), De Tafelronde, jrg. XXIV/2-3, 1981, p. 11)
The painting Petrified Wood, wherein we recognize the ancient wood and fossils, is a typical example of Cox's success in sketching a suggestive visual impression of nature's wonder.