Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts will open at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts on February 1, 2013. Drawn entirely from the superb collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, this exhibition presents works of the great Dutch masters including Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael and Jan Steen, along with related decorative arts. Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age will remain on view in the Frist Center’s Ingram Gallery through May 19, 2013.
Comprised of 73 paintings and 16 decorative arts, the exhibition sets the work of the great Dutch masters within the larger social, religious and political context of the Dutch Golden Age. Together these works provide a stunning survey of the art produced in the 17th century in the newly independent and prosperous Dutch Republic.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring to the Frist Center an exhibition entirely devoted to 17th century Dutch painting that has been selected from one of the largest collections of Dutch art outside of the Netherlands,” Frist Center Executive Director Susan Edwards remarks. “In addition to presenting works of exceptional beauty by numerous Dutch masters, the exhibition offers rare insight into the social and political climate of this beloved era in art history.”
“We are grateful to the H.G. Hill Realty Company for their generosity as our Gold Sponsor for Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts,” says Dr. Edwards. “With their support, we are able to present some of the finest Dutch Golden Age paintings at the Frist Center and facilitate more opportunities for education and engagement.”
“As a family owned and operated company in Nashville for five generations, we are extremely invested in supporting and furthering our community,” says Wentworth Caldwell, Jr., Chairman of the H. G. Hill Company. “To be able to bring some of the great art of the world to Middle Tennessee and, in turn, the many educational and community outreach opportunities it affords is a joy for us.”
The Exhibition
The exhibition will open with a gallery focusing on Rembrandt, the most innovative, versatile and influential Dutch artist of the 17th century. “Rembrandt did not specialize in any one kind of painting, which distinguishes him from his contemporaries,” explains Frist Center Curator Trinita Kennedy. “His vast production of paintings ranges across virtually every thematic category: genre, history painting, landscape, portraiture and still life. He was highly inventive and his work has never lost its extraordinary appeal.”
The first gallery will also present works by Rembrandt’s teacher, the Amsterdam painter Pieter Lastman, and Rembrandt’s own students and followers. Rembrandt was famous in his own day and ran an important workshop. While his exact number of pupils is unknown, it may have been as many as 40 to 50. “Rembrandt’s students copied and collaborated on his paintings and it can be difficult to distinguish their work from his own,” Kennedy observes. “Since the early 19th century, each generation of art historians has sought to define what was painted by Rembrandt, his pupils, his workshop, his circle and his followers. In this exhibition, we get to see how scholars are presently interpreting Rembrandt’s body of work.”
After the opening gallery with works by Rembrandt and his circle, the rest of the paintings in the exhibition will be organized thematically, with galleries dedicated to: Portraiture: Faces of the Dutch Golden Age (featuring works by Frans Hals); Biblical Histories: The Impact of Calvinism on Religious Art in the Dutch Republic (Leonaert Bramer); Dutch Peasant Scenes and the Perils of Debauchery (Jan Steen); Domestic Interiors: Inner Worlds of the Dutch Republic (Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Ter Borch); Still-Life Painting: The World in Objects (Willem Kalf; Rachel Ruysch);Dutch Architectural Painting: Cityscapes and Church Interiors (Emmanuel de Witte); Marine Painting and the Global Dutch Economy (Ludolf Backhuysen); and Dutch Landscapes: Local Scenery and Pride of Place (Jacob van Ruisdael).
Education and Technology
Frist Center Educator for Youth and Family Programs, Keri Jhaveri, has developed an educational component to enhance the visitor’s experience ofRembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age. In addition to 16 educational text panels, there will be 14 QR codes placed throughout the galleries that offer access to additional information designed to help visitors better understand the Dutch Golden Age and the social environment in which these objects were made. The text panels will describe the cultural context of the surrounding works, while the QR codes invite visitors with Smartphones to access additional images, audio files, and videos. Curator of Interpretation, Anne Taylor, has created a web-based Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age app that will also be available and can be accessed both on mobile devices and home computers.
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The Detroit Institute of Arts Dutch Collection
Founded in 1885, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) possesses one of the most significant collections of 17th-century Dutch paintings in the United States. Its constellation of Dutch masters is notably large and is crowned by signature works by Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael, Rachel Ruysch, Jan Steen, and Gerhard Ter Borch. The acquisition of Dutch painting has occupied a prominent position at the DIA since the late 19th century after a gift of over 80 European Old Master paintings—which included numerous Dutch Golden Age pictures—was bequeathed to the museum by founding trustee James E. Scripps. Beginning in 1924, the DIA’s Dutch collection was further shaped by Director William Valentiner, who was a Rembrandt specialist. Under his direction, the DIA made the spectacular acquisition of both Rembrandt’s The Visitation and Jacob van Ruisdael’s The Jewish Cemetery, which are universally recognized as sublime masterpieces of 17thcentury Dutch painting. The DIA continues to collect Dutch Golden Age painting to this day.
Exhibition Credit
This exhibition was organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Exhibition Acknowledgements
Gold Sponsor: H.G. Hill Realty Co.
Hospitality Sponsor: Union Station Hotel
Special thanks to Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios and Belmont University for their donation of recording time and professional expertise in the production of the exhibition audio tour.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Related Public Programs
Curator’s Perspective: Rembrandt and the Dutch
Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts
Friday, February 1, 12:00 p.m.
Frist Center Auditorium
Free; seating is first come, first seated
Presented by: Salvador Salort-Pons, Ph.D., Head of the European art department and The Elizabeth and Allan Shelden Curator of European Painting at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Dr. Salvador Salort-Pons explores the formation of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Dutch collection. He brings to light many aspects of the movement and the masterpieces and their illustrious provenances, while explaining the significance of this collection within the context of American collecting.
Kids Club: Still Life with Legs
Saturday, February, 9, 10:30 a.m. or 1:00 p.m.
Meet in the Upper-Level foyer of the Frist Center
Registration is required: call 615.744.3357 to make your reservation.
Designed for 5–10 year olds, the Frist Center Kids Club offers exciting opportunities for children to discover, explore, and create art. Free membership includes a Kids Club card, rewards for participation, hands-on activities in the Martin ArtQuest Gallery, and monthly projects in the art studios. Featured activity: Practice your powers of observation and drawing skills while getting up-close and personal with beetles, butterflies, and bugs. Inspired by the exhibition Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts, participants draw flora and fauna using watercolor pencils and simple drawing techniques for making little creatures crawl off the page.
Curator’s Tour: Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age:
Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts
Thursday, February 14, 12:00 p.m.
Meet at exhibition entrance
Gallery admission required; members free
Join Trinita Kennedy, curator at the Frist Center, as she considers the work of Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael, and other great seventeenth-century Dutch painters within the larger social, religious, and political context of the Dutch Golden Age.
ARTini: Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age:
Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts
Friday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.
Meet at exhibition entrance
Gallery admission required; members free
Are you curious about art? Do you want to learn more about the content and concepts behind an artist’s work? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then the ARTini program is for you! ARTinis are designed for everyone—from the novice to the connoisseur—and include informal and insightful conversations that offer a deeper understanding of one or two works of art in an exhibition.
Join Keri Jhaveri, educator for youth and family programs at the Frist Center, as she leads an informal conversation about some of the works included in the exhibition Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts.
This event will be offered again on Tuesday, March 26 at 12:00 p.m.
Dutch Golden Age Film Series
Dutch Golden Age artists developed unique approaches to still-life, landscape, and genre painting that reflected the land they reclaimed from the sea, the sources of their prosperous trade, and the might of their naval power. Two films in this series imagine the story behind an artwork of the period, while another presents the biography of one of the best known artists of the age.
*Please note that the films included in this series contain adult language, themes, and content and may not be suitable for children. Parental discretion is advised.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Friday, February 15, 7:00 p.m.
Frist Center Auditorium
Gallery admission required; members free
Seating is first come, first seated
Girl with a Pearl Earring is the story of Griet, a seventeenth-century teenage girl who leaves her family in the country to become a servant for the household of Johannes Vermeer in the comparatively bustling, canal-laden burgh of Delft. When she arrives, she finds herself at the low end of the servant totem pole until she’s allowed to clean “the master’s” painting studio. There, she catches the eye of Vermeer; eventually, he begins to paint her portrait. Stars Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, and Essie Davis. Directed by Peter Webber, 2003. 100 minutes. 35 mm. Rated PG-13.
Rembrandt
Friday, March 15, 7:00 p.m.
Frist Center Auditorium
Gallery admission required; members free
Seating is first come, first seated
Rembrandt’s artistic reputation was at its height in 1642, the year in which this moving, elegantly shot biopic begins. Set following the death of his wife, the film tracks the artist’s quiet descent into loneliness and isolated self-expression. This period of decline includes the unveiling of the work commonly known as The Night Watch and the ecclesiastical excommunication of his lover and maid, Hendrickje Stoffels, as he seeks solace in her company. Though black and white, the film’s attention to light is noted as being particularly Rembrandtesque. Stars Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence and Elsa Lanchester. Directed by Alexander Korda, 1936. 85 minutes. DVD. Unrated. Black and White.
Nightwatching
Friday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.
Frist Center Auditorium
Gallery admission required; members free
Seating is first come, first seated
Nightwatching tells the story of renowned Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn and his infamous painting The Night Watch. While painting a group portrait of the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia, Rembrandt discovers a murder plot involving his subjects. We watch as he attempts to reveal the truth of the conspiracy through his painting The Night Watch—a decision that forever changes the artist’s fate. Stars Martin Freeman, Emily Holms, Jodhi May, Eva Birthistle, and Toby Jones. Written and directed by Peter Greenaway, 2007. 135 minutes. 35mm. Rated R.
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