There are artists. And then there are Artists. In my latest nonfiction, Separated by Oceans but Connected by Love (available soon), I introduce two Artists, Erwin de Vries and Quintas Jan Telting. The two of them were contemporaries with my main character Humphrey Tja-A-Lien. All three were from Suriname. All three were adventurers. All three came and went and came and went in each other's lives. Both artists drew sketches of Humphrey that the family graciously allowed me to include in the book. In fact, one portrait of him is on the cover. This one:
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| by Erwin de Vries |
It currently hangs in the home of one of Humphrey's sons. De Vries is considered by some as the "Rembrandt of the Caribbean." In his inscription in the bottom right corner of the picture, de Vries signed it "to Chino" using the nickname for his friend. You'll have to read the book to see why he called him that. Long story.
Another part of the long story is Humphrey's connection to Qunitas Jan Telting. As young adventurers, they stowed away on a ship and went ashore in New York City back in the late forties. Jan returned to the ship. Humphrey didn't, and that, dear readers, is the gist of this book. The two met again in Amsterdam where Humphrey worked at the Van Gogh Museum. In my research, I ran across a post on the AFRICANAH.org site about Telting that included a powerful quote from him, "I am an artist, and being black, I find it my duty since I have a gift to create, to create with a purpose..." Create he did - this sketch of Humphrey that found its way here to his daughter in North Carolina:
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| by Qunitas Jan Telting |
