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Ans Wortel "The Song of Between the Air and the Ground"
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Bergen op Zoom, NetherlandsOn Whoppah since January 2022 • 60 sales
Product description
Artist: Ans Wortel
Title: "'t Lied van Tussen de Lucht en de Bodem"
Year: 1945-1999
Technique: Etching, colored
Signature: Hand-signed by the artist.
Edition: 16/50
Condition: Good, slight discoloration in the handwritten text at the bottom of the work.
Image: 25 x 39 cm.
Frame size: 42.5 x 52.5 cm.
Framed: Yes, in a black wooden frame, 2 cm wide and 3.5 cm high, in a black mat. The frame has a few very minor signs of wear, see photos.
Ans Wortel (Alkmaar, October 18, 1929 - Hilvarenbeek, December 4, 1996) was a Dutch visual artist, poet, and writer. She primarily created gouaches and oil paintings, but also watercolors, drawings, collages, lithographs, etchings, sculptures, glass sculptures, and glass reliefs. She was self-taught and received first prize at the Biennale de la Jeunesse (in Paris) in 1963.
Wortel's work is strongly autobiographical. Her experiences as a girl, woman, mother, and artist formed her inspiration. Common themes include love, security, mother-child relationships, and critique of group norms.
Until the late 1950s, her work varied widely. It displays characteristics of and is inspired by works by artists as diverse as Katsushika Hokusai, Willem de Kooning, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Paul Gauguin, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Wifredo Lam, and Karel Appel. In the late 1950s, this culminated in a unique style she sometimes called "ikme" (as a counterpoint to the term "Worteliaans" (Wortelian), frequently used in the press at the time, and because she was indifferent to the need of "experts" to categorize her art).
Her abstract figurative art (sometimes also called new figuration) often features nude female, male, and child figures that are easily recognizable, yet distorted. The human figures are together, seeking each other, embracing, or repelling each other. Hands, eyes, and faces are important motifs in her work. The figures exist in undefined spaces, which sometimes take on the form of an almost surreal landscape. The moon and the contours of the earth often recur in her work.
The work is usually accompanied by handwritten titles or texts of a poetic nature.
In the 1960s, the artist lived in Amsterdam at various addresses and in very poor housing. In 1969, she was offered part of Huis Kranenburgh on Hoflaan in Bergen as her living and working space. This was done by the then mayor of Bergen, Lo de Ruiter, with the permission of the municipal council. This caused resistance and opposition among several Bergen artists and residents. Emotions ran high, and stones even flew through the windows at Wortel's.
Plans were made to establish a museum in the building, and the municipality of Bergen therefore wanted to vacate it from around 1972. The crux of the legal dispute that arose was that, according to the municipality, the building had been made available under a loan agreement, while Wortel claimed it was a lease. This legal battle lasted approximately 20 years and was extensively covered in the media (including several times in the daily newspaper De Telegraaf). Ultimately, the artist lost, and in March 1991, she was forced to leave Huis Kranenburgh. The intended museum opened in 1993 as Museum Kranenburgh.
The sixth volume of her autobiography deals with this period, but its bitter tone made it unsuitable for publication. The issue arises regularly in her art, in her publications, and in interviews with her. The artist left Bergen and lived the last years of her life in Brabant.
Exhibitions
Ans Wortel exhibited her work at home and abroad in museums and galleries, including:
• 1960 De Posthoorn, The Hague.
• 1960 Kunstzaal Vlieger, Amsterdam.
• 1962 International Watercolor Exhibition, Stadt am Bodensee in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Group exhibition Liga Nieuw Beelden, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
• 1963 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo.
• 1964 Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Centre Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil. Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft.
• 1965 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. • 1966 Rotterdam Art Circle (RKK). Exhibition at the Plasmolen in Mook. Participation in the exhibition 'Bible and Contemporary Art', an exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Netherlands Bible Society.
• 1967 Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States.
• 1968 European Salon of Women, Nancy, France. Salon Female Artists, Paris, France. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Van Bommel van Dam Museum, Venlo.
• 1969 Curaçao Museum, Willemstad, Curaçao. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Waterland Museum, Purmerend. Fodor Museum, Amsterdam.
• 1970 De Vaart, Hilversum.
• 1971 Galerie In-Art, Amsterdam. Hengelose Kunstzaal, Hengelo. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
• 1973 Art and Glass - Glass Industry Van Tetterode, Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. • 1974 Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo. The Latemse Galerie, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium. Museum Oud Hospitaal, Aalst.
• 1975 Olympia International Art Centre, Kingston, Jamaica.
• 1976 Stedelijk Museum, Alkmaar. Visual Arts Festival 1976 Flanders/Netherlands.
• 1977 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Dutch Circle of Artists). Exhibition 'Year of the Child' for UNICEF, Turnhout, Belgium.
• 1980 Tempel Gallery, Willemstad, Curaçao.
• 1986 City Museum Woerden.
• 1988 Café In the Cradle, New York, United States.
• 1989 Galerie de Lelie, Antwerp, Belgium.
• 1994 Museum De Koperen Knop, Hardinxveld-Giessendam. Exhibition Heuf, Aruba. Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn.
Specifications
ConditionGoodColorsRed, BlackMaterialWood, PaperNumber of items1OrientationPortraitArt sizeMediumHeight52 cmWidth42 cmSigns of usageDiscoloring
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About this seller
Bergen op Zoom, NetherlandsOn Whoppah since January 2022 • 60 sales