This time a sad message

The portrait below is of Kees Thijssen. Last week he died. He was my agent for more than 25 years when I was working as an illustrator.

I was about 25 years old when I went to Amsterdam with my portfolio to find an agent. There were three major illustration agencies at the time in Holland: Art Connection, Top Drawers and Art Box. For some reason I could only visit Art Box. There I met Kees. He looked intently through my portfolio. He was excited: the next day I received a first commission! And the week after two, months later a dozen and, over the years, hundreds and hundreds. We became close friends.

Kees was a mighty good character of lonely stature. He ran the agency that gave us work for decades, and one of the great qualities of Kees was that he always sided with the artist. He defended like no other when there were problems with the customer. And there were issues at times, often because of the ever-present hurry. Almost every job had to be finished yesterday. We, the illustrators were kept out of the wind and could do what we were good at: making illustrations. Kees did the rest. I always said, “Kees get my ulcer” Last week he died after a short and severe illness.

He wrote me a few weeks back that I should not be surprised if a card with his portrait on it that I painted in 2003, should arrive in my mailbox, with his death announcement.