Herman Brood (Zwolle, 1946 - Amsterdam, 2001)

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Herman Brood was born in Zwolle on 5 November 1946. His cartoon-like paintings and silk screens have been very popular for years. Recognisable themes of his wild life have been expressed in a very identifiable way. At the beginning of the sixties he started his education at the Kunstacademie in Arnhem. However, he was more attracted by music and after some months he left the academy.

In 1964 he started his musical career with the band 'The Moans'. After some years, in 1967, Harry Muskee asked him to join and play the piano in his blues band “Cuby and the Blizzards”. When the record company found out that he used drugs regularly he was requested to leave the band. In 1976 Herman started a solo career with his accompanying band 'Wild Romance'. For some years the band was very successful. Near the end of the eighties Brood stated that he wanted to stop performing, at that time he was already painting and writing poetry.

In the nineties he made a definite breakthrough as a visual artist. There was even a wax statue of him at Madame Tussaud’s in 2001. Unfortunately he did not live to see the definite placement in the exhibited collection. On 11 July 2001 he ended his turbulent life by jumping off the roof of the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. As a result of his years and years of drugs abuse he had been ill for a long time. On his body a note was found which said 'not any more'. Ironically, his last work showed a man with a gun against his head. After his death a bust of this versatile artist, made by Frank Rosen was erected in Zwolle, his place of birth.