Wouter van der Giessen, who has just graduated from the art academy in Breda, is fascinated by colourful plastic furniture and their sculptural qualities.
Presently, at shop window gallery The Balcony, he has installed seven uniform objects.
They look like children’s seats or plastic seats from a swing or another playing object.
The title may suggest a colourful string of flags marking a market stall.
However, they might as well suggest nothing in particular, except for a row of identical objects in four different cheerful colours in a shop window.
Which, in itself, is enough to bring a striking surprise in between the different shop windows in this particular street.
Through the years Hein van Liempd’s photography has become a vision of time, nature and culture finding themselves in a ménage-à-trois for a few moments at last.
There is a spirit of resignation in his recent pictures from Havana, Cuba.
As people are struggling to live their lives, time is showing its marks in Havana’s architecture, cars and streets while nature in the shape of sharp sunlight and the cloudy skies make crumbling culture come to life.
Presently in Galerie 44 (44 Molenstraat) Van Liempd shows some of these Havana pictures.
There are some quite monumental ones, full of the richness that black and white photography can give you in a tropical country like Cuba, with its sharp sunlight and extremely dark shades, and with a lot of detail and drama in them.
All things in them seem to fall into place. These are not pictures for a quick look.
Most of the Caravaggios on show have a history of doubt. They are enthusiastically added to the list of the master’s works or they are mercilessly deleted. Caravaggio’s oeuvre seems to be either expanding or shrinking every now and then (well, like any old master’s). The famous Narcissus seems to have got a definitive roof over its head in Caravaggio’s house, after having been attributed to others, Spadarino amongst others. And what is definitive in art history? Now it shares its place as a frontispiece with Bernini’s Medusa for the exhibition Caravaggio – Bernini: Baroque in Rome at the Rijksmuseum. .
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Musei Capitolini, Rome
The exhibition shows works by Caravaggio and Bernini and especially by their followers and competitors. Amongst them some really great masters, whose fame only just survived the big shadows of the two great masters who have become iconic for the early Baroque period in Rome.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Musei Capitolini, RomeGian Lorenzo Bernini, Musei Capitolini, RomeFrançois Duquesnoy, Galleria Sabauda, Turin
Amongst others the Brabantian sculptor François Duquesnoy, who arrived in Rome when he was around 20 years old and stayed there for the rest of his life
François Duquesnoy, Galleria Sabauda, TurinNicolas Régnier, Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaSimon Vouet, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon
Look at this amazing self-portrait of Simon Vouet how he painted his collar. It’s just white paint and still it’s a collar.
Simon Vouet, Musée des Beaux-Arts, LyonFrançois Duquesnoy, Palazzo Barberini, RomeFrançois Duquesnoy, Palazzo Barberini, Rome(detail) Simon Vouet, Musée Réattu, Arles
Another great Vouet. Not just the expression of the sitter may strike you but also the way his cloths are painted with sketchy sprezzatura. It may remind you of Frans Hals.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonGian Lorenzo Bernini, Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonGian Lorenzo Bernini, Uffizi, Florence
One of the few but famous self-portraits by Bernini. Bernini, whose great example was Michelangelo, was not just a great sculptor, he was also an architect, a stage designer, director and actor and a talented painter, although – like Michelangelo – he preferred sculpture as a matter of principle.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Louvre, ParisFrancesco Mochi, Art Institute of Chicagoattributed to Domenichino, Art Gallery, Yorkattributed to Domenichino, Art Gallery, YorkCaravaggio, private collection, Florence
This portrait of Maffeo Barberini is said to be by Caravaggio. According to the catalogue it is regarded as a real Caravaggio, based on “many arguments.” Whatever the arguments are, personally i think that if it is by Caravaggio it must be one of his very first ventures in portraiture, or it is a copy of a lost original by Caravaggio.
Andrea Sacchi, National Gallery of Canada, OttawaGiuliano Finelli, Metropolitan Museum, New York
This bust of Scipione Borghese by Giuliano Finelli is said to be ordered by the sitter in competition with Bernini’s now famous bust of Scipione (in the Villa Borghese in Rome). Like in Bernini’s bust the cardinal seems to have had problems with his buttons and buttonholes.
Giuliano Finelli, Metropolitan Museum, New YorkCarlo Saraceni, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
It is a good thing that the exhibition doesn’t show just examples of masterpieces, although one could ask what this misfit by Carlo Saraceni is doing here, especially since there is a much more convincing Saraceni elsewhere in the exhibition.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, private collection, RomeHendrick de Keyser
This Boy stung by a bee by Hendrick de Keyser is a little extra by the Rijksmuseum, as De Keyser didn’t work in Rome and he is not in the catalogue.
Orazio Borgianni, Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid(detail) Valentin de Boulogne, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, MadridGian Lorenzo Bernini, private collection, FlorenceAnnibale Carracci, Kunsthisorisches Museum, ViennaFrancesco Mochi, private collection, England
One of the surprises of the exhibition is this St. Cecilia by Francesco Mochi, which almost looks like a Futurist sculpture.
Francesco Mochi, private collection, EnglandFrancesco Mochi, Galleria Pallavicini, RomeFrancesco Mochi, Galleria Pallavicini, RomeFrancesco Mochi, Galleria Pallavicini, RomeGian Lorenzo Bernini, private collectionGian Lorenzo Bernini, private collectionLudovico Carracci, Getty Museum, Los Angeles2nd century AD Roman torso completed by François Duquesnoy, British Museum, London
In those days archaeology of the Roman past and its restoration had become a serious cultural business. Remains of antique sculpture were restored and completed by great sculptors, like this Faun whose limbs and head were sculpted by François Duquesnoy.
2nd century AD Roman torso completed by François Duquesnoy, British Museum, London2nd century AD Roman torso completed by François Duquesnoy, British Museum, London2nd century AD Roman torso completed by François Duquesnoy, British Museum, LondonOrazio Gentileschi, Galleria Nazionale della Liguria, GenoaOrazio Gentileschi, Galleria Nazionale della Liguria, GenoaSpadarino, Museum and Art Gallery, Perth – Scotland
This impressive Spadarino was also on show in last year’s exhibition of the Caravaggisti at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, where i made this picture (click here for the report).
Caravaggio, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
From here on i realised i had only very little time left as i had spent the morning and part of the early afternoon at the Stedelijk to see the Nam June Paik retrospective (see reports here in Dutch and here in English) , and as it was increasingly difficult to take a look at all interesting items of the exhibition and to keep a five feet social distance and to make some pictures which would give some idea of what i found to be interesting. So i decided to skip the photographing.
Caravaggio, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
That’s why the ending of this photo report is a bit of an anti-climax.
1st century AD Roman sculpture restored by Alessandro Algardi, private collection, Chicago1st century AD Roman sculpture restored by Alessandro Algardi, private collection, Chicago1st century AD Roman sculpture restored by Alessandro Algardi, private collection, ChicagoCaravaggio, Galleria Corsini, RomeCaravaggio, Museo Civico, Cremona
It is a very full and detailed exhibition (which was made in co-operation with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna) and i can only advise you to visit it, as far as possible and as far as wise, taking into account the upsurge of the Corona virus in Amsterdam.
Guido Reni, Galleria Nazionale della Liguria, Genoa
This great retrospective of one of the most fascinating artists of the last quarter of the last century happened to be opened just before Covid-19 restrictions were implemented. Now, after reopening, the exhibition was obviously not prepared for the restrictions we still have. In the mean time the museum and its visitors are trying to make the best of it.
As i have written quite extensively in VLR about the exhibition, i just leave you here with some impressions.
The show is in its last week, so you have to hurry if you don’t want to miss it. And do bear in mind that you have to make an online reservation!
Though he wasn’t born in The Hague, he lived for a major part of his life in this town and undeniably left his artistic marks here.
There have been retrospectives of his work in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and even twice in Dordrecht, but in spite of that Verdijk has only become a household name to very few artists and art lovers.
The present exhibition – recently reopened when anti-corona measures were alleviated a bit, difficult to find on the museum’s website, and unclear in how long it will be there – may give a clue to that underrating.
Almost each work on show has the magic to suck you into the intimacy of its composition, such that you may even feel a voyeur; that is, if you really surrender to these works.
I have no idea how long these works will be on show, so hurry to see them!
Villa Next Door 2 