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Celebrating the 400th anniversary of New York
Updated: March 30 2009, 12:22 CET
AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK: Tomorrow the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opens her doors to the exhibition ‘400 jaar Nieuw Amsterdam/New York’, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson leaving the Dutch shores and set sail for America, where he funded New Amsterdam, the city that became New York. The purchase letter of Manhattan island from the Indians in 1626 is the top artefact at the show. This British sailor discovered the river on the North Coast of America. The Dutch colony which was founded there was called New Netherlands ('Nieuw Nederland') between 1626 and 1667, and the city New Amsterdam. On show are several historical documents all part of the Dutch National Archive.
Both Amsterdam and New York are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the American capital. Established in 2006 in Amsterdam and in New York, the Henry Hudson 400 Foundation was organized to celebrate the 400th anniversary. Besides celebrating the historic event, the Foundation also wants to explore future ties between these two great cities which are linked by their shared belief in the value of free, diverse, outward-reaching societies and promote future ties between these two great cities which are linked by their shared belief in the value of free, diverse, and entrepreneurial societies.
New Amsterdam developed outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory (1614–1674) which was situated between 38 and 42 degrees latitude as a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic as of 1624. The harbor and the river had been discovered, explored and charted by an expedition of the Dutch East India Company captained by Henry Hudson in 1609. From 1611 through 1614, the territory was surveyed and charted by various private commercial companies on behalf of the States General of the Dutch Republic and operated for the interests of private commercial entities prior to official possession as a North American extension of the Dutch Republic as a provincial entity in 1624.
As key note speakers, minister Frans Timmermans and famous Dutch architect Ben van Berkel will address specific topics relating to 400 years of business relations between Amsterdam and New York.
Wednesday April 1st; Night of the Stars (The Hague)
A gala evening organized by the Holland America Friendship Foundation and hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen in the 13th century Knights Hall in the Hague. Proceeds from the event will go to Fulbright Scholarships and other educational and cultural exchanges.
This event will be the 'official opening' of the Quadricentennial in the Netherlands, celebrating four hundred years of uninterrupted friendship between The Netherlands and America.
The Van Gogh Museum exhibits in cooperation with MoMA, Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night. Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam hosts a large retrospective of the American photographer Richard Avedon. The Amsterdam Historic Museum presents its Old Masters.
For more information: www.henryhudson400.com
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War Horse to open at London’s West End
Updated: March 25 2009, 11:01 CET
LONDON: Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. For these tourists the New London Theatre located on the corners of Drury Lane and Parker Street in the Covent Garden area, opens her doors to ‘War Horse’ this week. War Horse is a play based on the celebrated novel by the children's Laureate (2003-05) Michael Morpurgo, directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris and performed by the Handspring Puppet Company. The cast includes James Barriscale, Finn Caldwell, Paul Chequer, Conor Doyle, Tim van Eyken, Curtis Flowers and Bronagh Gallagher. A team of actors working with magnificent, life-sized puppets present this tale of bravery, loyalty, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse during the First World War.
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to the trenches to find him and bring him home. He's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land.
Designed by Paul Tvrtkovic, the New London Theatre officially opened on January 2, 1973 with a production of The Unknown Soldier and His Wife starring Peter Ustinov. Between 1981 and 2002 it was home to the musical Cats, during which time it became the longest running musical in West End history. Between 2003 and 2005 the theatre hosted Bill Kenwright's revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This closed after a two and a half year run on 2 September 2005. Currently, the venues is playing host to the London transfer of off-Broadway's hit production - the Blue Man Group.
The total attendances at London’s West End first surpassed 12 million in 2002, and in June 2005 ‘The Times’ reported that this record might be beaten in 2005. Total attendance numbers surpassed 13 million in 2007. Factors behind high ticket sales in the first half of 2005 included new hit musicals such as Billy Elliot, The Producers and Mary Poppins and the high number of film stars appearing.
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Fathers of Netherlandish painting shine in Berlin
Updated: March 20 2009, 11:21 CET
BERLIN: Today the newly built Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz – Gemäldegalerie in Berlin opens her doors to ‘The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden’, an exhibition taking a close look at two founding fathers of Netherlandish painting: the Master of Flémalle (also known as Robert Campin c. 1375–1444) and Rogier van der Weyden (also known as Rogier de le Pasture (1399/1400–1464). Around 1430, these two artists opened up completely new possibilities for the depiction of people and objects in art which would soon be enthusiastically taken up all over Europe.
The painters from the southern Netherlands laid the foundations for the painting of the modern era with their discovery of the individual in the portrait and the reproduction of convincing interiors and atmospheric landscapes. Just as during their own lifetimes, their art still continues to be admired for its brilliant rendering of light and shadow as well as for the deft reproduction of a diverse range of materials.
The Gemäldegalerie - Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz has about 7,000 square metres of exhibition space. A complete tour of the 72 rooms covers almost two kilometres. Two of the major sections are formed by Italian painting from the 13th to 16th century and Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th century. After the collection was founded in 1830, it was systematically built up and perfected. The exhibition includes masterpieces by artists from every age of art history such as van Eyck, Bruegel, Dürer, Raphael, Tizian, Caravaggio, Rubens, Vermeer and Rembrandt. The octagonal Rembrandt room enjoys a key position at the heart of the museum. The sixteen works by this artist form one of the largest and highest quality collections of Rembrandt paintings. They are flanked by additional gems of Dutch and Flemish painting of the 17th century.
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Animal inspired bags on show in Amsterdam
Updated: March 16 2009, 12:59 CET
AMSTERDAM: The coming week The Netherlands celebrate the 74th Week of the Book. This years central theme is ‘Tjielp Tjielp the literary zoo’. No wonder today the Amsterdam museum for Bags and Purses opens ‘Animal-inspired bags’, an exhibition about animals as source of inspiration for bag designs. The examples on show include the designer Beverly Feldman, who often portrays her poodles on her bags, and Corine Haacke whose bags and Cavalier label are inspired by her dog.
In the past, bags and purses would often portray animals and flowers. The purpose of these decorations was to express the feelings of the giver for the recipient. Animals as symbol of loyalty, and a long and happy life can be seen on wedding pouches and -wallets. In the 1950s and '60s, as a reaction to the sober years of the Second World War, bags became popular, portraying for example poodles in Paris scenes and, during the Flower Power era, bags with doves of peace. Many of these fads originated in the US.
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TEFAF in Maastricht to attract over 70.000 visitors
Updated: March 13 2009, 11:20 CET
MAASTRICHT: Today 34th edition of the leading international fine art fair TEFAF opens at the MECC in Maastricht, displaying a selection of masterpieces from 239 of the worlds most prestigious international dealers attracting over 70.000 visitors. Every item presented is checked by one of 25 vetting committees made up of over 155 internationally respected experts. Over the past twenty years TEFAF has been transformed from a comparatively modest show into one of the most important events in the international art market calendar.
In 1975 the TEFAF opened as the bi-annual “Pictura Fine Art Fair” in Maastricht’s Eurohal with 28 international exhibitors. Pictura was specialised in old master paintings and medieval sculptures. In 1978, due to the success of the Pictura fair, the “Antiqua” fair debuted at the Eurohal in Maastricht with 42 exhibiting international antique dealers and antiquarian booksellers. The Antiqua finally became ‘Antiquairs International’. In 1988 Antiquairs International & Pictura Fine Art Fair became “The European Fine Art Fair” and was relocated in the newly built Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre (MECC). A new section devoted to textile arts, entitled Textura, joined the stablished Antiques and Pictura sections. This was celebrated with a special exhibition entitled ‘Carpets in the 17th century Dutch Paintings’. In 1994, the memorable year in which The European Fine Art Fair hosted ‘Treasures from The Hermitage St Petersburg’, the number of visitor numbers already exceeded 60,000. Last year in total 73,406 people visited the Fair.
Visitors can also visit the new large presentation of early Italian art, entitled ‘Palazzo’ that just opened at the Bonnefantenmuseum as part of the new Rijksmuseum Maastricht. It revolves around the important Dutch collector of Italian Renaissance art, Prof. Dr. Otto Lanz (1865-1935). After World War II, a major part of his extensive collection ended up in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and another part came to the Bonnefantenmuseum in the late 1980s. In this semi-permanent presentation, works from the Lanz collection are supplemented with art from collections of other collectors who were active in the inter-war period, such as the businessman Edwin vom Rath.
The TEFAF runs until March 22.
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