| Artists: |
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Lotta Blokker, Janhendrik Dolsma, Peter Durieux, Siemen Dijkstra, Kenne Grégoire, Henk Helmantel, Charles Henri, Margot Homan, Reinder Homan, Herman van Hoogdalem, Frans Klerkx, Rob Møhlmann, Wout Muller, Ben Snijders |
| Technique: | pencil, etching, color-woodprint, acrylic, egg-tempera, oil, marble and bronze | |
| Date of exhibition: | October 16 - December 26, 2005 (closed on Christmas Day) |
Naar het leven
Contemporary Dutch Realism
a cooperation between Museum Møhlmann
and the Panorama Museum (Germany)
|
For centuries there has been a tight bond between The Netherlands and realism in the visual arts. This distinctive sense of reality already starts off with the Van Limburg brothers and continues with the Van Eyck brothers, the artists of the Golden Age and the Hague School, right up to the present day. Halfway through the 20th century it seemed that realistic art was at last doomed to disappear completely, but this turned out not to be the case. All sorts of developments in the modern arts drew the attention of the art-establishment, so much so that there was no interest for realism whatsoever. In spite of this, realists in the Low Countries doggedly worked on. And, as it now turns out, in the course of the last three decades a different and more sensible realism has managed to flourish here; a realism that is increasingly drawing national, and also international, attention. This contemporary realism is characterized by a completely personal and individual quality, although the primal feature remains the close bond with the visible. The exhibition Naar het leven (painted from life) catches the defining principle of this typically Dutch style of realism, which with its fine sense for detail, rendering of texture, intimacy and telling atmosphere, definitely stands out from forms of realism elsewhere in the world. |
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 Ben Snijders, Sarah, 31x23cm. o/p  Charles Henry, Malou, h50cm, brons |
 Frans Klerkx, doosje, 26x28cm. o/p  Henk Helmantel, Romeins glas, 61x61cm. o/p  Herman van Hoogdalem, De blauwe kimono, 29x18cm, o/p |
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"Naar het leven" (taken from life). These are three simple words, but they inseparably link the urge for realism in the visual arts with the Low Countries. For it was in the Dutch language that this characterization was first, in the 16th century, as "nart het leuen", put to drawing-paper. It seems to bespeak a certain pride. An explanation for this pride could be the fact that the artists of those days often based their works on examples - particularly prints - of others. By using the phrase the artist made one thing clear to us: "this I have seen with my own eyes and made with my own hands." The exhibition Naar het leven is the result of an unique cooperation between the Dutch Museum Møhlmann and the German Panorama Museum at Bad Frankenhausen. The exbibition consists of some 150 works of 14 leading representatives of this new contemporary Dutch realism. In Germany the exhibition was very well received by both press and public, and there was even some coverage on national television. And now it is on view in the Netherlands. In Naar het leven not only many genres are representedÑthe nude, the portrait, the landscape, the still life, figures, and fantasyÑit also shows a wide spectrum of techniques: pencil, etching, color-woodprint, acrylic, egg-tempera and oil. Sculpture is also represented with sculptues of the human form in marble and bronze. In short: a real feast for the senses. |
 Margot Homan, Gevleugelde gedachte, h37cm, marmer  Kenne Gregoire, Prinsesje, 38x29cm, a/p  Rob Møhlmann, Naar het leven, 40x40cm, o/p |
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 Lotta Blokker, Levity, 100x90x120, brons  Janhendrik Dolsma, Breebaart Polder, 90x90cm, o/l  Peter Durieux, Labrot, 30x75cm, a/p  Siemen Dijkstra, De Bork, 37x43cm, kleurhoutsnede  Reinder Homan, Zonnig bos, 14x18cm, ets |