Jan Schoonhoven (1914-1994) was born in Delft and studied at the Academy in The Hague. From 1945 until his retirement in 1979, he was employed as a civil servant at the postal, telephone and telegraph services in The Hague. Schoonhoven lived most of his life in Delft, where until the death of his wife Anita in 1978, he participated in the rich social life around her passion—jazz. From his first solo show of 1957, Schoonhoven’s works—both his serial reliefs in white papier-mâché, wood, or cardboard and minimalistic drawings—have acquired an iconic status as representative of ZERO art. Schoonhoven was awarded Second Prize at the 1967 São Paulo Biennial and has been featured in Documenta and many major museums worldwide. Schoonhoven shared the aspirations of ZERO but saw his works as autonomous and free from outside influence.

Henk Peeters (1924-2013) was born in The Hague and studied at The Hague Academy. From 1957 until 1972 he taught at the Art Academy in Arnhem. Peeters lived in Hall, eastern Netherlands, with his wife Truus. He exhibited widely from 1958 onwards in museums and galleries, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Peeters is best known for in his monochrome assemblages with gauze, feathers, and cotton balls. He was a passionate Dutch ZERO-ist and popularizer of its ideas through theoretical exchange, curating (including the 1962 ZERO/Nul exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), and collecting. In the Sotheby’s catalogue of his collection, Peeters is quoted as saying that he didn’t want to occupy himself with forms and colors and sought something realistic and immaterial.