'The golden bent of the Herengracht in Amsterdam'
This painting was painted in 1672 by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde. It is a vue of the Herengracht canal in Amsterdam which formed part of an ambitious city expansion project in the middle of the 17th century. What we see are the newly constructed houses owned by wealthy citizens (burgers), the new elite of a proud civil society.
The political and social reality which followed the Peace treaty of Münster of 1648, ending an eighty year long struggle for independance from Spanish rule, gave a forceful impuls to economic growth. Dutch explorations and trade with the new colonies in Asia and America increased enormously and brought great wealth and riches to Amsterdam, the finance capital of the world.
The new economic prosperity in Amsterdam and the selfconsciousness of its bourgeoisie resulted in a dynamic art market.
For that reason, many artists worked in Amsterdam, and quite a few of them prospered.
Indeed, the 17th century was also a golden age for artists and craftsmen in Amsterdam.
New York and New Amsterdam cityscapes - Allen Sheppard Gallery, New York Februari 2009
New York based painter Daniel Bodner has been recognised as one of the most interesting new-impressionist artists of his generation. In recent years he finds his images for his urban landscapes in the streets of New York and her cross-atlantic sister city Amsterdam, where he worked for more than a decade before his return to New York in 2005. His work reveals an unusual quality of almost transparent space where people figure in translucent light. Bodner comments about his work: "Space and figures appear more realistic but are often distorted or abstracted by light."
"What Bodner is referring to is creating the impression of staring into strong light where figures become impressions and details get blown out by the brightness of the scene. 'It's like so much light is coming at you, you can't make out what you're seeing,' says Bodner. 'Too much light can act to destroy space or an image and that is a metaphor for life as well'".
American Art Collector Magazine, December 2007
Daniel Bodner is represented in Amsterdam by Galerie Hof & Huyser and in New York by Allen Sheppard Gallery.
MondriaanHuis - art exhibition
The paintings of Amsterdam artist Michael Berkhemer may be characterized as non-representational, abstract or geometric. They are reminiscent of and may perhaps be considered to follow the tradition of the New York school of color field painting or abstract expressionism; however, to merely think in these categorical terms would diminish the quality of his work. Cornelia Homburg writes in the introduction of a recently published book about the painter: "Berkhemer's manner of working is unique. Nevertheless, as a Dutch artist, he is acutely aware of the traditions of abstraction in his own country as well as abroad. The work of Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, or Ellsworth Kelly has been important for his personal development as a painter." ('Michael Berkhemer' - Waanders Publishers)
Berkhemer paints with a highly evolved sense of composition, with an unusual degree of spacial clarity and a refined application of color
Location: Mondraanhuis, Kortegracht 11, Amersfoort : (Exhibition is now finished)
'The Teacher': a commentary on history.
Amsterdam contemporary artist Wim Heldens refers in this painting to the darker pages of history following the discoveries of the New World.
"This canvas is related to a bit of dark Dutch history: the slave trade, one of the sources of Holland's wealth in the 17th century, the knowledge of which was suppressed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Only recently attention has been given to this unpleasant part of the past. We see two typically 'cool' contemporary Dutch teenagers watching intensily at a picture, held up by - apparantly - a descendent of black slaves. The strong contrasts in light and darkness, and of colours, suggest a great depth, enhanced by the mirror which reflects a double image: a part of the picture in the room itself which is shown to the kids, but also a mast which seems to be outside. In Amsterdam this is also reality: a beautifully restored ship from the 17th century is moored at a kay and can be visited as part of the Maritime Museum. The striking combination of elements, the expression of surfaces and tissues, and the supple and quasi-spontaneous way lines and colours form a well-balanced whole, show how the old-Dutch tradition of detailed realist painting can be re-interpreted and made contemporary."
(John Borstlap 2007)