This project examines a very unusual experimental exhibition of Papuan material collections at the Rijksmuseum.

About the project

In the summer of 1966 the Rijksmuseum staged a temporary exhibition titled Papoea-kunst in het Rijksmuseum (‘Paupuan Art at the Rijksmuseum’). It was the first survey exhibition in the Netherlands – and only the second in the world – of Papuan material culture. The Rijksmuseum had no objects of this kind in its own collection and organised the exhibition in close collaboration with the Netherlands’ leading ethnographic museums. The presentation of ethnographic objects as art works in the Netherlands’ premier art museum was extraordinary for the period, and the impact was accentuated by the unique manner in which the objects were displayed. The exhibition attracted a great deal of media attention at the time, but has been largely forgotten today.

AIm of the project

This project will study the conception, design and reception of the 1966 exhibition Papoea-kunst in het Rijksmuseum (Papuan Art in the Rijksmuseum) in the context of exhibition design practices relating to ethnographic material in Dutch and international museums during the 1960s, and the impact of the exhibition on museum professionals affiliated with or working at the Rijksmuseum in the many years since the completion of the exhibition project.

Staff

Jason Falkenburg
jason.falkenburg@rijksmuseum.nl
Postdoctoral Mellon fellow

Ludo van Halem
l.van.halem@rijksmuseum.nl
Curator of Painting and Architecture

Harm-Jaap Stevens
h.stevens@rijksmuseum.nl
Curator History

Partners and Sponsors

Mellon Foundation