12 Sep 2018 | 1,645 views
An extensive selection of work by Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes will be on show on Curaçao for the first time in a unique collaboration between the Henkes Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands with The Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) and the Curaçao Maritime Museum. Opening on 22 September 2018 by Minister Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé.
In late 1945, the Rotterdam artist Dolf Henkes (1903–1989) boarded a ship to Curaçao. Everything about the island would make a deep impression on him after those dark wartime years in the Netherlands — the colours, the light, everyday life. He took the island’s archetypal features and themes and fashioned them into his own distinctive, modern idiom. Curaçao conquered his heart and had a lasting influence on his work. He in turn left clear traces of his visit on the island, including two large-scale murals, in the chapel of the Sint Elisabeth hospital and at Hato airport.
Now, for the first time since Henkes visited the island, more than 30 paintings by Dolf Henkes from the Netherlands have been shipped to Curaçao and are on show alongside artworks from Curaçaoan collections.
Henkes on Curaçao, from 25 September 2018 to 12 January 2019, consists of exhibitions at three different locations: the Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista (IBB, the art school run by the artists David Bade and Tirzo Martha) and the Curaçao Maritime Museum. The Curaçao Museum is mainly showing the cultural scene in the 1950s, the Curaçao Maritime Museum has a number of harbour scenes and Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) is focusing on the human side.
Fundashon Plataforma Kultural is organising an extensive educational programme for secondary-school pupils on Curaçao and Bonaire. Guided tours and excursions related to the exhibitions are also being organised.
The aim of Henkes on Curaçao is to introduce a new generation to this aspect of their cultural history and show the influence visiting artists have had on the island, and vice versa, down to this very day. The catalogue Dolf Henkes and Curaçao will be published in September 2018 by LM Publishers. It includes contributions from Verele Engels, Julie Hengeveld, Cathy Jacob (ed.), Nathalie Menke, Sandra Smets, Jennifer Smit and David Bade/Tirzo Martha.
The official opening will be on 22 September 2018 at the Curaçao Museum by Mrs Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé MSc, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. At this ceremony, the Minister will be presented with the first copy of the catalogue Dolf Henkes and Curaçao.
The Henkes Foundation looks after the Dolf Henkes legacy and collection. It also organises the biennial Dolf Henkes Prize for talented young visual artists in Rotterdam.
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) manages the legacy of Dolf Henkes, which consists of his studio collection of more than 3,500 paintings and works on paper.
Henkes on Curaçao was organised by the Henkes Foundation and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in partnership with the Curaçao Museum, Instituto Buena Bista (IBB), the Curaçao Maritime Museum and Fundashon Plataforma Kultural (for the educational element).
The project was made possible thanks to funding from the Mondrian Fund and the sponsorship of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and Powerhouse Company, along with the support of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. There is an accompanying educational programme on Curaçao and Bonaire, which was made possible thanks in part to the support of Fonds21.
