24 February, 2006

ARTIST'S DAY OUT




It was a beautiful sunny day in Amsterdam yesterday , so I took a day off and visited the sites. I went to the Rembrandt house to see the etching exhibition, then on to Rembrandtplein to see the Nightwatch sculpture installation, Katharina Grosse at DeAppel and finally Spuistraat for the graffiti walls.

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17 December 2005 - 12 March 2006
http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/
Rembrandt and British Printmaking 1880 - 1930
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An exhibition in which the work of British etchers is juxtaposed with works by Rembrandt that inspired them. The exhibition is being organized in association with the Schloss Moyland Museum in Bedburg-Hau, Germany.

The Society of Painters-Etchers was founded in London in 1880. The aim of the Society's members was to free etching from the straitjacket of reproduction and establish it as an artistic medium in its own right with a standing equal to that of the art of painting.

Thanks to this society of artists, British etching flourished greatly in the period around 1900. In the exhibition Rembrandt and British Printmaking 1880 - 1930 the role of Rembrandt as a source of inspiration is central. Around one hundred etchings by thirty-four of the most important artists working in Britain, among them Francis Seymour Haden (1818 - 1920),
http://www.greatmodernpictures.com/images/antphot01lg.jpg

James Abbot McNeil Whistler (1834 - 1903) and David Young Cameron (1865 - 1945), are being shown alongside etchings by Rembrandt from the Rembrandt House Museum collection. Bringing prints from these artists face to face with those by Rembrandt demonstrates not only how they incorporated his ideas, but also their own ways of interpreting them.
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During Rembrandt’s 400th anniversary, the ‘Ondernemingsvereniging Rembrandtplein en Omgeving’ will unveil a bronze version of Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’ on the Rembrandtplein. This enormous sculpture group is the creation of two Russian artists, Alexander Taratynov and Mikhail Dronov and consists of 22 life-sized bronze figures.
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Note dog. Its difficult to see in the painting and normally lost in reproductions. It looks like an underdrawing and may have been overcleaned? This installation begs to be seen in conjunction with a good image of the painting.
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katharina-grosse-at-deappel.html

This new installation is the first work I have ever seen at deappel that I have enjoyed. It was like walking through a Frankenthaler. There's a narrative throughout that leads from room to room, interrupted in sharp contrast by the DeAppel's stairwell.



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Spuistraat.

Think of it not so much as graffiti as feral printmaking.




for more Amsterdam street art, see blakkbyrd.

Article by Blakkbyrd
http://blakkbyrd.wordpress.com/

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