Meadowlark Gallery: The Artist Biographies

Henry Balink (1881-1963)
Born in Amsterdam, Holland, was a printmaker and teacher. Balink studied art for five years at the Royal Academy in Amsterdam where he paid for his education by working as a bicycle racer and ice skater, having no support from his parents who discouraged the pursuit of his art talent. He then went to New York and Chicago where he did portrait commissions and a large mural and was employed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1917, he and his wife were in Taos, New Mexico, having had their curiosity aroused by a railway poster in a train terminal. In 1923, he settled in Santa Fe and there came into the subject matter that became the central theme of his work for the remainder of his life--the culture of the American Indian.
View high resolution images of works by Henry Balink when available.