Indepth Arts News:
"Four Generations: A Century of the Toorop-Fernhout Family"
2001-10-19 until 2002-02-03
Centraal Museum
Utrecht, ,
NL
No family of artists has played a more important role
in Dutch art than that of Toorop-Fernhout. Between
them, Jan and Charley Toorop, Edgar and John
Fernhout, and Rik Fernhout cover a period of more
than a century. This is a unique phenomenon in
Dutch art history and one reason for the Centraal
Museum devoting an exhibition to them. In doing so
the Centraal Museum is also associating itself with a
tradition.
Previous exhibitions have been held with the three
generations as their subject - in 1937, 1954,
1956-57 and 1971-72. The Centraal Museum
intends however to expand the concept by including
a fourth generation in the person of the painter Rik
Fernhout, son of Edgar Fernhout. It also plans to
include the films of John Fernhout, with the idea that
film too is a visual art form. The Centraal Museum is
therefore offering its public a contemporary art-
historical survey of a remarkable family of Dutch
artists. The artists will be generously represented
with a selection of their best work. Central figures in
the show are Jan Toorop, Charley Toorop and Edgar
Fernhout, with roughly 30 major works each. The
work of the film director John Fernhout will also get
extensive coverage. The exhibition will open with his
film about his family, De drie generaties and a
nonstop showing of his films will be held in the
adjacent auditorium. A selection of the paintings of
Rik Fernhout will form an annex to the exhibition -
this is his debut for a more general public.
In between the generous presentations of the
separate artists there will be some comparative ones
- heads of working-class people by Jan will hang
side-by side with those of Charley; Charleys still
lifes will be accompanied by those of Edgars and a
connection is planned between Edgars abstract light
paintings and the pointillist landscapes of his
grandfather, Jan.
Documentation of the artists in the form of
photographs from family albums, correspondence,
catalogues and films will enable viewers to trace the
family connections and to appreciate the place this
family occupies in Dutch art history.
The Centraal Museum has been making
preparations for this exhibition for some years
already, enlisting the support of all the major
museum collections with relevant work. The
exhibition will be accompanied by a lavish catalogue
with texts by specialists, highlighting a selection of
the works. It will include a visual narrative of the
history of the family as well as biographies of its
individual members and an essay describing the
importance of this family for the Dutch art world. In
her capacity as curator of modern art at the Centraal
Museum Marja Bosma is in charge of the project and
she will also be editor-in-chief of the catalogue. She
is currently working on a PhD thesis and a
publication about Charley Toorop.
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