Raymond (NC), Portrait of William Van Hettinga

Watercolor and gouache on paper, signed and titled to the shoulder, framed below glass.

Sheet sight 27 x 21 1/2 in.; Frame dimensions 34 1/2 x 29 in.

This portrait by an unknown North Carolina artist "Raymond" features William Van Hettinga, an American artist and writer whose work combined emblematic imagery, experimental writing, and avant-garde practices. After earning an M.A. in English Literature from Duke University in 1963, Hettinga studied theater in Vienna and became part of New York’s Beat Generation. By the mid-1960s, he was creating experimental films, with Motherlove premiering at Film-Makers’ Cinematheque in 1967.

In 1968, Van Hettinga moved to Holland, where he developed a practice blending allegorical emblems, calligraphy, and non-linear books, influenced by philosophy, ancient scripts, and Eastern traditions. He later taught at the Atlanta College of Art and exhibited internationally, including his Visible Language series in Antwerp in 1974. His notable works include Sins of the Tongue and Mobius Phoenix, the latter constructed from an entire box of computer paper inscribed with his personal script. In the late 1970s, he relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he founded the local newspaper Poor William’s Omnibus. Van Hettinga died in 1989 from AIDS-related complications.

Good estate condition, not examined outside the frame.