Press Release pAn Amsterdam: the best of today’s art market.

Helvoirt, 23 August 2005. pAn Amsterdam is the Dutch public’s favourite national art and antiques fair. The high quality, the authenticity guaranteed by experts, the amazing space and offers at all price levels attract a growing number of visitors—almost 30,000 last year. The young public, new collectors and various museums are also starting to find their way here. Excellent sales figures show that pAn Amsterdam is considered to be the foremost art and antiques fair in the Low Countries. This year will be the 19th occasion. More than 110 exhibitors are presenting the best of today’s art market in the RAI in Amsterdam from 20 to 27 November. They enrich everyone’s view of art and antiques.

One of the more unusual objects is a late 17th-century ceremonial cushion that belonged to the predecessor to the present-day Netherlands Court of Audit. On this large display cushion there is a woven lion rampant with a sheaf of arrows and a pair of scales in his claws, and the coat of arms of this financial institution in the middle of the coats of arms of the Seven Provinces. This extremely rare and well-preserved object is being offered by Van Blaricum & Vis (Utrecht) for € 28,000. Just as rare is the green glass bottle mounted in a silver frame with chased depictions of Bacchus and bunches of grapes, made by the Hague silversmith Adriaen van Hoecke in 1664. John Endlich (Haarlem) will be showing this bottle which, together with a silver glove basket, was originally the property of an aristocrat. Aronson Antiquairs 1 (Amsterdam) are showing a pair of 18th-century polychrome Delft figures (fig.1) of an elegant man and woman, seated with baskets on their laps. They were designed as salts. The lids of the baskets have survived, which makes them quite exceptional. Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art (’s-Hertogenbosch) will be offering a 17th-century Japanese porcelain apothecary’s bottle, decorated with a laurel leaf on which the initials IC appear. Recent research has revealed that these initials correspond to those of Johannes Camphuys (1634- 1695). For three years he was in charge at Deshima, the Dutch settlement in Japan, and afterwards Governor-General of Batavia from 1684 to 1691. Price €12,000.

Polak Works of Art (Amsterdam) is putting two colourful Balinese statues on display: Rawana seated on his mount and Vishnu, the Hindu god who keeps good and evil in balance, on his mount Garuda. On the stand of Zenith Oriental Art (Maastricht) there is an almost life-size wooden statue of Guanyin (fig.2). The Chinese bodhisattva of compassion is rendered in a seated position with one raised leg, giving a relaxed impression. The statue, with original red-brown paint, dates from the 14th century.

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3 On the stand of Simons Juwelier (The Hague) there will be a real eye-catcher—a platinum art deco armband (fig. 3) with its shimmering setting of rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds forming the skyline of Chicago. The piece was made in America around 1920. Harold t’Kint de Roodenbeke (Brussels) is presenting ‘Avond in Oostende’ by Leon Spilliaert (1881-1946), a typical work by this Flemish expressionist with its decorative composition and taut lines. Emile Claus (1848-1924) is the pre-eminent Belgian luminist. He was rightly called the sun painter. For a long time, in the period running up to the First World War, the landscape around the artists’ village of Sint- Martens-Latem and the working farmers and their cattle were an important source of inspiration. Ooidonk Fine Arts (Deinze) are showing a large summer landscape by Claus (fig.4) from this time, which vibrates with colour and light.

Twelve4 art and antique dealers are coming from Flanders. For the first time at this pAn De Backker Works of Art (Brussels) are augmenting their collection of mediaeval sculptures with paintings by anonymous Flemish Primitives. Among them is a ‘Descent from the Cross with St Veronica’, painted around 1505 by an artist from Antwerp or the Northern Netherlands, and still in its original frame.

New exhibitors This year the exhibition has four new exhibitors, while three are returning after a short absence. This latter group is made up of clock specialist F. van Kollenburg (Oirschot), Dekker Antiquairs (Amsterdam) with jewellery, silver and watches, and Dorien van Heerdt (Amsterdam) who is bringing traditional mediaeval miniatures, this year combined with works by present-day ‘fine painters’. The four art dealers taking part for the first time are all bringing art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Madelon Eekels (Blaricum) is showing figurative work by ‘classical’ masters such as Breitner, Israels, Gestel, and also Bayens and Verwey. E. J. van Wisselingh & Co (Haarlem) will be showing Dutch and French painters and sculptors. Northern Netherlands realists such as Henk Helmantel, Matthijs Röling, Pieter Pander and Piet Sebens dominate the works being brought by Collectie Harms Rolde (Rolde). Krijger & Katwijk (Amsterdam) are presenting four artists, among them the painter Bert Loerakker (fig. 5), who links the abstract and the figurative in a highly individual way, and Henny van der Meer, an artist who welds strips of steel into sculptures which represent leaves and trees or organic shapes.

Special presentations 5 Two art dealers are showing special presentations. Fijnaut & Co (Maastricht) has recently acquired four top works from the estate of the poet and painter Willem Hussum (1900-1974). He is considered to be one of the most important Dutch abstract artists since the Second World War. The price of Hussum’s work has risen more than that of any of the others in this group of painters. He made intuitive, original abstract paintings, full of tension and balance, and yet no less depictive, just like his poetry. The works come from Hussum’s son Frank—large canvasses, monochrome and empty, from which his fascination for Zen Buddhism emerges, including one work in pink and red from 1963. At Galerie De Rijk (The Hague) the emphasis is on artists who belong to the international Zero movement. Among those represented are Jan Schoonhoven and Ad Dekkers, Gerhard von Graevenitz, Klaus Staudt, Heinz Mack and an outsider, Herbert Zangs. Rembrandt and Six As a prelude to the 2006 Rembrandt Year there will be a small but very special Rembrandt presentation at pAn Amsterdam. At the centre is the famous etching dating from 1647 portraying Jan Six (1618-1700). Six was a prosperous, prominent figure in Amsterdam—he was burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1691—and a lover of poetry and art. Six is portrayed in a room in his house, reading while leaning against a window in a relaxed manner—a pose never before portrayed by Rembrandt. The light from outside falls over his shoulders, illuminating his face, and his sword, the books and a painting on the wall stand out in the semi-darkness. With its subtle chiaroscuro effect, ‘Portrait of Jan Six’ is therefore regarded as one of the most successful works by the master. More importantly the presentation shows us the entire etching process for the first time. All four states of the etching, with slight differences in each, are combined with the three preparatory drawn studies made by Rembrandt, plus the etching plate in its original condition. This etching plate, which Rembrandt hardly reworked, has remained in the Six collection from the moment it was printed. It is interesting to see how Rembrandt has given Six an entirely different pose in the sepia drawing, where Six appears to be looking at the observer and a dog is jumping up at him. Six was far from satisfied with it, particularly about the dog. ‘After all, I am not a savage’, Six is said to have remarked, whereupon Rembrandt portrayed him more as a poet. Two of the etchings, two drawings and the plate come from the Six collection and are loaned out very rarely. The two other etchings come from the Rijksmuseum, and the small drawing belongs to the Amsterdams Historisch Museum.

Kempen & Co Merchant Bank is the main sponsor of pAn Amsterdam 2005

Note for the editorial staff: You can find this press release, descriptions of objects and various illustrations in high resolution on www.pan.nl under the heading ‘press’. The site is updated regularly until the exhibition. For further information: Titia Vellenga or Denise Hermanns, Tel: 0411 – 644 440, Fax: 0411 – 645 091, e-mail: [email protected]

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