Rijksmuseum’s summer exhibition explores ideas about gender across six centuries of art and history in its collection
Publicatiedatum: 15 mei 2024 - 10:34
This summer the Rijksmuseum presents Point of View, an exhibition exploring ideas around gender in Western Europe from the 16th to the 21st century through 150 works from the museum's own collection. Highlights include a portrait of William of Orange wearing a skirt at the age of four, a flamboyant gold toothpick in the shape of a dragon and a glass decorated with copulating roosters. Featured artists include Gesina ter Borch, Marlene Dumas, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Kinke Kooi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, Maria Roosen, Charley Toorop and Sara Troost among others.
Maria Holtrop, co-curator of the exhibition said, ‘Through this exhibition we would like to show how prevailing ideas about gender throughout history influenced not only art but also objects of everyday life. The works on view particularly reflect how varied these notions of gender can be and how they continue to evolve today.’
Point of View runs from 5 July to 1 September 2024 in the Phillips Wing of the Rijksmuseum.
Point of View
Ideas about gender influence what all of us do – from the clothes we put on in the morning to the type of desk we sit at, to how we pose for a photo. This exhibition shows that the way we put those ideas into practice changes with time and place. guided by 10 question-based themes. Questions like ‘Is there such a thing as a male pose?’, ‘Does ‘female' art exist?’, and ‘Does gender define what you wear?’
A skirt for everyone
Point of View explores objects such as furniture, drawings, photographs, accessories, items of clothing that, across the centuries, show particular associations with femininity, masculinity, and gender in general. They include portraits of children in the 17th century in the Netherlands They show that many Dutch children then wore skirts until about the age of seven, as can be seen in the recently acquired portrait of two-year-old Moses ter Borch painted by Gesina ter Borch (after 1667).
Gender diversity
The exhibition explores individuals across centuries whose identity, modes of expression and personal experience didn’t fit within the dominant frame of masculinity or femininity. There were female artists – Ferdi, Kinke Kooi and Thérèse Schwartze, for example – who broadened and enriched perspectives on femininity, and individuals such as Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626-1689), who crossed gender boundaries by appearing in portraits in both feminine and masculine forms. The exhibition showcases their stories and images, as well as displays of gender fluidity in portraits of more recent iconic figures, such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Grace Jones.
Chevalier/Chevalière d’Éon
To coincide with the exhibition, the Rijksmuseum has received a painting of Chevalier/Chevalière d’Éon on long-term loan from a private collection. This work by Jean-Laurent Mosnier (1743-1808), tells the story of d’Éon (1728-1810), a diplomat and spy who was famous in their own time. D’Éon lived for 50 years as a man and then 30 years as a woman. The famous diplomat has become an example for living outside traditional gender boundaries.
College students
Photographer Bete van Meeuwen worked with a group of ten students to create portraits in which they show what gender means to them. A larger selection of photographs and a video on the creative process is on view on the website and at the Teekenschool, the Rijksmuseum’s education centre.
Design
Ard de Vries and Donna van Milligen Bielke designed the exhibition. Graphic design for the exhibition is by Irma Boom Office.
Curators
The exhibition is curated by Maria Holtrop, Curator of History; Charles Kang, Curator of Drawings; and Marion Anker, academic researcher of Women of the Rijksmuseum.
Public Programme
Guided tour: A Pink History
A look at queer history in the Netherlands and how it is reflected in art. The tour ends in the exhibition Point of View.
5 July to 4 August
Available in Dutch and English
€7.50 pp
Partners
Point of View is made possible by Fonds 21 and the Rijksmuseum Club.
This exhibition is the result of collaboration with a wide variety of external experts. COC Netherlands and Lilith Agency, among others, collaborated on this exhibition.
In the exhibition
Images
.jpg?c=68a882c7487082fca72961c70b5088400e9c87f97b53cd2b1aeb0257c72fc5e1){kind=link}
.jpg?c=569d5e26e0269d6df8cd10e8f6d052bcfe1f8200ed1173acdea8c0d097aeaf3a){kind=link}
.jpg?c=fc5f3a46cd485eb1d8a66d9408a49f202c1ff86bd45c2d9e2dc94d5753faa15d){kind=link}
Group portrait of girls dressed in military costumes, with attached moustaches, cigarettes and boots, Willem Hendrik Dikkenberg, c. 1897 - c. 1940
Gesina ter Borch, Portrait of Moses ter Borch as a Two Year Old, after 1667. Purchased with the support of the Women of the Rijksmuseum’ Fund
.jpg?c=98c898e1a516051d5dc7c04bd322c838526c740f95f381f66755d62779238952){kind=link}
Images of the installation
Photo Rijksmuseum/Kelly Schenk
Photo Rijksmuseum/Kelly Schenk
