HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — The Kruizenga Art Museum at Hope College will host a reception on from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25, 2019, for two ongoing spring exhibitions, one on the work of Rembrandt, the other, a textiles depiction of the nomadic peoples of Baluchistan.
This year marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death. Born in 1606 in the city of Leiden, Rembrandt began training as an artist at age 14. He moved to Amsterdam in 1632, and quickly gained fame there for his portraits, biblical and mythological scenes, and scenes of everyday life.
“Rembrandt Etchings” will include impressions of 13 etchings by Rembrandt. The prints that will be on display in the exhibition all depict biblical subjects and were created by Rembrandt between 1632 and 1655. “Rembrandt was a man of strong faith, and he clearly took inspiration from the Bible as he navigated the challenges of his life,” said Charles Mason, who is the director and the Margaret Feldmann Kruizenga Curator of the Kruizenga Art Museum. Approximately one quarter of Rembrandt’s etchings depict stories from the Bible.
Tragedies marked his life, including the loss of three children in infancy, and the premature death of his wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh. Though an excellent artist whose work fetched high prices, Rembrandt was a poor manager of money. He declared bankruptcy in 1656; for the last 13 years of his life, he eked out a living on minor commissions and fees from students. Upon his death in 1669, he was buried as a pauper in an unmarked grave.
Printmaking was an important part of Rembrandt’s practice, allowing the artist to express himself creatively in ways different from drawing or painting. By re-working and re-printing his plates, Rembrandt was able to experiment with various techniques and materials using the same image, thus creating multiple states of many of his prints. The number of different print states continued to grow after Rembrandt’s death as his original plates were re-worked and re-printed by other artists and publishers. Rembrandt’s prints are therefore typically identified both by the date of the original composition, and by the date a particular impression was created.
All of the prints in the “Rembrandt Etchings” exhibition were recently donated to the permanent collection of the Kruizenga Art Museum. The exhibition will continue through Saturday, June 1, 2019.
“Once Were Nomads” uses textiles to examine the traditional life and culture of the nomadic peoples of Baluchistan, a territory that straddles the modern borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The exhibition includes 45 examples of textiles including rugs, clothing, animal trappings and other such items, ranging in date from the mid-19thto the late 20th centuries.
The content and presentation of the exhibition was organized in collaboration with Hope College student Caleigh White ’20, whose curatorial work on the exhibition was supported by the Borgeson Scholar Program and the John H. Dryfhout ’64 Internship endowment. Many of the textiles featured in the exhibition were donated or lent to the museum by Verne Trinoskey and Paula Armintrout Trinoskey of Eureka, California, who also provided important historical information and technical analysis of the weaving.
Admission to the Kruizenga Art Museum is always free. Public visiting hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Visit the museum’s website hope.edu/kam or social media for additional information about special programs and events related to “Rembrandt Etchings.”
The museum functions as an educational resource for Hope College and the greater West Michigan community. The museum features two public galleries as well as a classroom and climate-controlled storage space for its 4,500-object permanent collection. It is named in honor of a leadership gift from Dr. Richard and the late Margaret Kruizenga of Holland, both of whom graduated from Hope in 1952.
The Kruizenga Art Museum is at 271 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets.
