Karel Appel showing Fokker F100 - WTC New York

After Nico Koster had photographed Karel Appel a few times in his studio for the Telegraaf, the painter and photographer became friends. Appel had a good sense of publicity and felt it was important for him to be captured during his career. Because of that Koster often visited Appel in his Molesmes castle in France and together they traveled to Japan, and a lot of other places. Koster also photographed Karel Appel a lot in New York. Karel liked to take long walks through the city and Koster accompanied him. This has resulted in some unique photos of the artist.
Karel Appel had a huge studio in New York on 4th street, in Little Italy. He lived in a large loft and worked in another. It was there that one of his most striking works of art was created. The Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker wanted to launch a new aircraft, the F100. The idea was to introduce the new aircraft with a painting by Karel Appel on it during the air show at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. Unfortunately, it remained a scale model. The crisis in the aviation industry  made the company too expensive, and Fokker cancelled the idea. But Appel and Koster did travel to Brooklyn for a session of Appel with the plane in front of the skyline of Manhattan. These photographs have now become iconic photos because Karel is holding the plane in front of the World Trade Center, which of course took on a completely different meaning after September 11, 2001.