The American Dream in Assen

The current major exhibition at the Drents Museum is Assen is "The American Dream", about American Realism in the years 1945-1965. This painting called "Morning Sun" from 1952 by Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is on the cover of the exposition's information leaflet. The model is Hopper's wife Josephine, bathed in the morning light, sitting on her bed gazing out at the city. It is one of Hopper's most famous paintings.

This piece from 1963 by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) pictures Ethel Scull. She and her husband Robert Scull were American art collectors. Ethel was also the subject of Warhol's "Ethel Scull 36 Times", a large work depicting Scull in 36 different poses.

The exhibition can be seen until the end of May.

Self-portrait

From one of the smaller temporary exhibitions that I viewed in the Drents Museum last year is this self-portrait by Dutch painter Henny van der Vegt. It's called "Self-portrait with Anna Karenina", which is a truly beautiful name for a rabbit I think :)
The portrait is an oil painting from 1996 on a camembert cheese box.

Self-portrait

One of the current smaller temporary exhibitions in the Drents Museum in Assen is ´Self-portraits'.
About 95% of the portraits were painted, this piece of Dutch artist Flip Drukker (1949) stood out because of its originality.

Window of my Eyes

"Window of my Eyes" was the biggest hit of Cuby and the Blizzards (or: Cuby + Blizzards) and it is also the name of the current exhibition at the Drents Museum in Assen. C+B were a Dutch blues group, founded in 1964 by vocalist Harry Muskee and guitarist Eelco Gelling. Their music included blues and rock and roll, with a sound that was completely different from any other Dutch band in the same period.

Harry "Cuby" Muskee would have celebrated his 75th birthday in 2016 (he died of cancer in 2011), which was enough reason for the Drents Museum to honour the Dutch blues legend. The exhibition shows his youth, his music, performances, travels, album covers, and much more.
I am or was not a fan of C+B, but I really enjoyed seeing the exhibition. Both photos give a small impression.

The Maya exhibition in Assen

Sunday a week ago we visited "The Maya - Rulers of the Rainforest" exhibition, currently in the Drents Museum in Assen. It is a fascinating exhibition telling about the the Maya's high civilisation, the mysterious world of their gods, and their knowledge of the universe.

Among the objects displayed are beautiful jade ornaments, large and small sculptures, and pottery. The photo shows the upper part of an exceptionally large incense burner in Teotihuacan style, proving the influence of the Central-Mexican metropolis Teotihuacan on the Mayas.
More about the exhibition HERE.

View

A view from inside the old part of the Drents Museum in Assen.

Stained-glass windows

These are four beautiful stained-glass windows in the old part of the Drents Museum, a building that dates from 1885. The photos I posted yesterday were taken in the new part. On the left "De Bloemen" (The Flowers), and "De Maaltijd" (The Meal) on the right..

.. followed by "De Dronk" (The Drink, or The Toast) and "De Vruchten" (The Fruits).

'The Glasgow Boys' in the Drents Museum

Another exhibition I enjoyed seeing in the Drents Museum last Friday was "The Glasgow Boys". This British group of some twenty highly diverse painters of roughly the same age were inspired by French impressionists and the Barbizon and Hague School artists. They challenged the establishment and set out across Scotland and France to paint.

Old Willie - The Village Worthy (1886)

Oil on canvas by James Guthrie

(From the comments next to the painting:)
"For years Guthrie endeavoured to show rural life in large paintings depicting several figures. When this failed, he limited himself to a single figure in a landscape. In this work he went one step further, painting a local personality without any surroundings or props. The flat, white background focuses the viewer's attention on the weather-beaten face and direct gaze of the man posing for this portrait.
This painting is Guthrie's last naturalistic work and perhaps his best."

'Corporeal' in the Drents Museum

I visited the Drents Museum in Assen today and enjoyed seeing the exhibition ´Corporeal´ by Laura Eckert. This young sculpturor, born in 1983 in Leipzig Germany, creates life-size sculptures and firm heads using wood and stone.

In Germany Eckert is regarded a huge talent in figurative art. She doesn't use models or sketches, the heads she creates 'just' come to life from the material she is working on.
The heads on these photos are made of wood. I was impressed!

Contrast

Inside the Drents Museum in Assen you find a mixture of old and new, classic and modern. From this spotless white room with ditto bench you pass the glass doors and enter the old part again, with stone colourful floor tiles and a generally dark(er) interior. And whether you like this contrast or not, it certainly makes the building more interesting!

Jacob Cramerpark

Following up on yesterday´s post, I´m still at the roof garden of the Drents Museum and standing almost on the top, maybe you can recognize the 'roof-like' shape. The buildings in front belong to the old part of the museum, while the new part (under me) was built partly underground.
This roof garden is known as the Jacob Cramer-Park and is open to visitors during museum opening hours. Jacob Cramer (1899-1998) was a politician and the Queens Commissioner (in Dutch: Commissaris van de Koningin) of the province Drenthe from 1951 until his retirement in 1964.

Museum Visitors

After my visit to the Drents Museum in Assen last week, I also walked through the Jacob Cramerpark, the museum park. The sculpture, showing three people looking at/through a frame, is called `Museumbezoekers' or 'Museum Visitors', and is part of the museum's art collection. It was created by Dutch sculptor Bert Kiewiet (1918-2008).
The park, here to my right, is in fact a roof garden and is built upon the roof of the underground part of the museum. I will show you more photos later.

Precious eggs

The Drents Museum in Assen currently also exhibits a collection of beautiful and very valuable Russian eggs, that are on loan from the Landesmuseum in Liechtenstein. The highlight is this 'Apple Blossom egg' by Fabergé from 1901. The materials used are gold, diamond, enamel, and a mineral called nephrite. Beautiful, isn't it?

The total collection in this room consists of hundreds of unique eggs. They tell the story of the bewitching court culture in pre-war Russia and the artistic refinery and blossoming of the applied arts at that time. Hurry if you want to see them as the exhibition closes at the end of February!

The glass showcases in which the eggs were put gave a nice reflection, both of the eggs as well as of the lights. I'm linking this last photo to Weekend Reflections.

Malevich in Assen

No less than 60 original paintings by Kazimir Malevich can still be seen in the Drents Museum in Assen. Malevich (1878-1935) is the most important Russian artist from the first half of the 20th century. The collection is owned by the Russian State Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Malevich painted a lot of figurative works with agricultural life as its central theme. After his death, nearly all his work went to the Russian State Museum and was barely known outside the Soviet Union under the communist regime. After the perestroika, they gained some fame.
I really enjoyed seeing this exhibition of colourful paintings!

going downstairs

It's not just the variety of exhibitons, it's also views like this that makes your visit to the Drents Museum a joy for the eye.

MUSEUM

This photo was taken while waiting in line to enter the Drents Museum in Assen, as I watched the reflection of the the buildings across the square. Can you see the word 'MUSEUM' spelled there in the logo?


For more reflections around the world go to Weekend Reflections.

Dead Sea Scrolls / Drents Museum

Entering the exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, only there for a few more days in the Drents Museum in Assen so hurry if you happen to be around and want to go! The museum shows original Biblical manuscripts and objects from the 3rd century BC till the 1st century AD. Imagine that.

Part of the exhibition is a 'research lab', with lots of side information as well as translations of the texts on the scrolls. As you can see, I wasn't the only one there to see -what is called-  'one of the greatest archaeological discoveries from the 20th century'. 

The original historical fragments are kept in special conditions regarding light, humidity, temperature etc. It wasn't allowed to make photo's of the actual scrolls, however to see them and to realise how old they are, was quite impressive.

museum stairs

Drents Museum, Assen

stairs

Drents Museum Assen

lunch time

Grandcafé Krul, Drents Museum Assen.