_{Cover Image: Hans Arkeveld: Dissected Head Series (Detail), 1980. Image supplied.}

Hans Arkeveld

Born Scheveningen, Holland, 27 August 1942

Died Perth, Western Australia, 5 June 2026

When sculptor Hans Arkeveld created a striking bronze sculpture Celestian, it was dedicated to those who donate their dead bodies to science, a selfless act that enables medical students to study human anatomy in the most intimate and real way.

Celestian’s presence in the University of Western Australia’s Memorial Garden is all the more poignant now that Arkeveld has died. A consummate, quietly contemplative artist, he often worked from a cluttered room – surrounded by skulls and bones – in the Department of Anatomy, where he was artist-in-residence for over 50 years.   

Arkeveld must hold some kind of record for the arts-science partnership he enjoyed at UWA, where he was installed not just as a technically brilliant drawer of human anatomy. Out of studying death at close quarters, he created life-infused representations of the body in painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking.

But he was also a kindred companion to hundreds of medical students and staff, a man so utterly in command of both artistic and scientific knowledge that he was trusted to teach students anatomy as well as art. He even made models of human embryos at every growth stage that were so accurate they are still used today.

His acute artistry was often coupled with an ironic wit, embodied in a lost wax cast bronze that stands outside UWA’s Lawrence Wilson Gallery. The proud warrior stands on a wheeled chariot, one side of his body covered in armour, the other side stripped back to sinew and bone. It’s titled Homo Fallible.

“Hans had this incredible sense of humour, combined with a spiritual, scientific and political dimension,” says friend and sculptor Jon Tarry. “He would twist it all into a kind of joke or gag, so his work never felt too heavy.”  

Arkeveld ranks high among Western Australia’s most influential post-war contemporary artists and sculptors. At the age of 84, his death in June was perhaps unsurprising. But in a state that too rarely celebrates its senior artists, even in our major art gallery, his loss marks the closing of a chapter in WA art history that deserves reflection.

Born in the Netherlands, he migrated to Australia with his family in the 1950s. He left school at 13 and become a beekeeper near Lancelin before studying ticket writing and typewriting at Perth Technical College, until in 1963 he enrolled in Commercial Art.

He was drawn to Renaissance artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, whose medical illustrations were a profound influence, along with the genius of Rembrandt’s portraits. Other eclectic inspiration came from visits to Papua New Guinea, where that nation’s traditional wood carving inspired works like ‘Sepik Saviour.’ Also a keen observer of contemporary politics, he created polemical works like ‘Transmigrations’ and ‘Political Prisoner’.

“His whole project was about being socially responsive, including about refugees,” observes Tarry. “He was a very socially engaged artist, he had a political position. And as a younger artist, I’d never encountered anything like it, the idea that you could combine the past in a very contemporary way.”

Tarry first encountered the older artist when he came to Curtin University to give a talk. “He was so softly spoken and quiet, sort of mysterious in the way he spoke about art,” recalls Tarry. “Later I started going to the anatomy department with him once a week to do drawings, and we even ended up studying in anatomy classes together. As artists, we would draw everything as a way of remembering.”

“Hans influenced people through the depth of his work. He chose to sit outside of systems, acknowledgement and support in every aspect of life. His view was not to try and join the scene, but to create some kind of scene through the work you do.”

Arkeveld was reluctant to part with his art pieces, says Tarry. “He could be absolutely broke but often he wouldn’t sell the work. In some ways, he wanted to do everything on his own terms. It wasn’t just his art, he had an alternative way of living. You buy a block of land in Darlington, you build your own house, you don’t have a loan with the bank, you build it using recycled materials. Do things yourself.”  

That philosophy was shared by Theo Konig, another significant WA post-war contemporary artist who died in 2022. As fellow Dutch migrants the two men were also close friends.

“Theo and Hans had a very strong working relationship,” Tarry observes. “And when I met Hans, then I started seeing where Theo was coming from, artists influencing other artists.”

Arkeveld taught drawing and sculpture in art schools, including UWA’s Department of Architecture and Fine Art. He exhibited nationally and internationally, with five major solo exhibitions and over 200 group shows. He completed numerous commissions for public sculpture, won the WA Chancellor’s Medal and Commonwealth Centenary Medal, and is represented in national, state and other gallery collections including the Australian National Gallery.

A major retrospective Homo Eclectic was held in 2020 at Mundaring Arts Centre to celebrate 50 years of Arkeveld’s art. In January this year, Tarry was pleased to offer a personal tribute to Arkeveld when the reclusive artist attended the opening of Tarry’s exhibition in Midland.  

“It was a huge turnout of 300 people,” recalls Tarry. “I said, ‘I want to acknowledge the legendary Hans Arkeveld right here in front of us.’ And everyone clapped. And just for a moment, you could see Hans really appreciated it.”