About Rien Poortvliet

Yes, another great artist!
Marinus (Rien) Harm Poortvliet was born on August 7th 1932 in Schiedam, The Netherlands, as the oldest of four sons of the plasterer Zacharias Poortvliet and Cornelia Hermina de Boer.

Rien Poortvliet married Cornelia (Corrie) Bouman on May 23, 1956. They had met at college in Schiedam. Rien and Corrie got two sons, Harm en Tok and lived in Schiedam.

His talent manifested itself at an early age, but his parents were set against Rien becoming an artist. After attending school, he became the youngest co-worker at an advertising bureau, where he could vent some of his artistic talents.

After having served his time at the Royal Navy in 1954, he found a job as an illustrator at Lintas, the advertisement bureau from Unilever.

Since the late fifties, Rien did illustrations, in his spare time, for several publishers. Most of his work was for children's literature. Rien was a fervent lover of nature and hunter and much of his work also was published in hunting books. In the late sixties, Rien decided to take the plunge and became a full time book illustrator. In 1969 he and his family moved to Soestduinen, the Netherlands.

Due to lack of work and having to support his family, Rien published his first book in 1972. In 1976 Poortvliet and his colleague Wil Huygen, published the first book about a subject that would give them international fame: Gnomes.

His work made him financial independent and Rien could do whatever he liked. In 1979 the family moved to Soest, to a house with a better work shop for Rien.

Rien Poortvliet died of bone cancer on September 15, 1995 at Soest, at the age of 63.

See also:
Rien Poortvliet's Work
Rien Poortvliet's Economical Impact