Tag: Netherlands

History, homeward bound (hopefully)

That recent post about the not-really-“homecoming” of the Nedra Sky Disc got me thinking about those culturally significant artefacts and paintings that really do need to go home. Here’s a brief list of recent articles from The Art Newspaper to get us started. I’m sure there are unfortunately many more.

Austria takes first step to return artefacts from colonial era – The Art Newspaper
Though country was not a colonial power, major museums in Vienna have acquisitions of colonial goods.

German museums may have thousands of looted relics from China’s Imperial Palace, research group believes – The Art Newspaper
Collaborative research by major German institutions may expose huge amounts of Chinese objects taken during Boxer Rebellion.

Nigeria seeks to calm tensions over return of Benin bronzes – The Art Newspaper
Government museums body takes control of repatriated artefacts after ruler of Benin challenges new trust set up to unify Nigerian claimants.

Germany returns Nazi-looted, Dutch Golden Age painting to Jewish dealer’s heir—but more than 800 works are still missing – The Art Newspaper
Ice Skating by Adam van Breen was acquired by Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command, and bequeathed to the city of Trier’s museum in 1987.

Worldwide Van Gogh

We might not be able to get to the galleries, but now some of them can come to us.

He’s the artist I keep coming back to. He’s even on my phone’s lockscreen now.

Van Gogh’s self portrait recreated with stunning sculpture painting – Moss and Fog
Artist Timur Zagirov has created a beautiful rendition of Van Gogh’s famous self portrait, using a myriad of colored wooden blocks. 425 polished pine cubes, to be precise.

I love the idea of an abstract, sculptural painting.

But wait, here’s more Van Gogh. Lots more.

Dive into Van Gogh Worldwide, a digital archive of more than 1,000 works by the renowned Dutch artist – Colossal
A point of levity during the temporary shutdowns of museums and cultural institutions during the last few months has been the plethora of digital archives making artworks and historical objects available for perusing from the comfort and safety of our couches. A recent addition is Van Gogh Worldwide, a massive collection of the post-impressionist artist’s paintings, sketches, and drawings.

Dutch museums unveil free digital collection of 1,000+ artworks by Van Gogh – My Modern Met
Van Gogh Worldwide is a new project by a group of Dutch museums which presents a digital collection of over 1,000 of the artist’s masterpieces. Building off the digitized collection begun several years ago by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, almost half of the post-Impressionist works of this prolific artist are now available to view—with scholarly commentary—from the safety of your own home.

Take a wander yourself, there’s so much to take in.

Van Gogh Worldwide
Van Gogh Worldwide is a free digital platform providing art-historical and technical data about the work of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). The artist produced a total of approximately 2000 artworks, and the aim of Van Gogh Worldwide is to present data for these in an accessible way, via a user-friendly website.

The resolution of each image is wonderful, allowing you to get closer to the paintings than you probably could in real life.

And you can even view the paintings in a raking light, to get a sense of just how heavily textured and expressive these were. Not quite as three-dimensional as Timur Zagirov’s wooden blocks, but still.

Waterways

It’s nice to see Futility Closet properly up and running again, now that the libraries Greg Ross visits are mostly all open. I thought these two recent entries went well together.

The Moses Bridge – Futility Closet
Visitors to the Fort de Roovere in the Netherlands cross a moat using a sunken bridge designed by Ro & AD Architects.

Thinking big – Futility Closet
Parliament considered the plan [to straighten the Thames] but never implemented it. “Revely had rather an awkward way of letting loose his real opinions; and he habituated himself to a sarcastic mode of delivering them,” read his obituary. “It need not be added, that such qualities were not calculated to render him popular.”

There are some more images of Revely’s plans on IanVisits, a London heritage blog.

Hieronymus boats

Here’s something you don’t see every day, a floating theatrical and musical festival, dedicated to the work and spirit of Hieronymus Bosch.

A Parade of Earthly Delights: Floating Bosch Parade celebrates painter Hieronymus Bosch in spectacular aquatic event – Colossal
A floating parade dedicated to painter Hieronymus Bosch honors the artist’s fascination with the fantastical and absurd in an annual event that embodies his philosophy and aesthetic. The 2019 occurrence of the Bosch Parade included a musical performance played on a partially submerged piano and a scene with two people straddling enormous horns, just two of fourteen vignettes devoted to an evolving story about “power and counterforce, battle and rapprochement, chaos and hope.”

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Stunning photos from the Bosch Parade, the sailing parade in the spirit of Jheronimus Bosch – Design You Trust
This floating, poetic parade of art works portrays a universal tale of power and counterforce, battle and rapprochement, chaos and hope. From the chaos after the battle a new order has to emerge. Eventually, old opposites will form the foundation for a new hope in this storyline filled with symbolism and fantasy – as it is in Jheronimus Bosch’s works.

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