Page 22 - Studio International - May 1973

The State itself, separate from the museums, occasion. The state institutions of course had to not by the museum where the show takes place.
used to acquire art through committees for follow suit and most municipal museums now The committee can appoint ad hoc
painting, sculpture, graphic arts, applied arts also have an item on their yearly budgets for commissioners for certain projects, but the
and monumental art. Most committees used a loan rents. commissioner for the Biennale in Venice, for
programme that permitted practically all Dutch Dutch artists can apply to get money from the example, is nominated by the Council of Arts
artists of any standing to sell something at least so-called State fund for experiments. and appointed by the Minister of Culture. He is
once every four years. But it became more and Applications are also possible for scholarships, always chosen to do three Biennale's and he
more difficult to find a destination for so much travel grants and stipends; sometimes the forms a programme committee with at least two
art. Also what was bought through the years State is also willing to help individual artists or other members.
never really amounted to a collection. The groups to finance a publication or an exhibition. There has been a lot of talk about
system has recently been changed. The State Two major State policies in the arts have now incorporating everything that has to do with
now buys Dutch contemporary art to form been effective for more than twenty years. Both foreign cultural relations in some kind of a
coherent collections that can be sent around as are severely criticized, but they are nevertheless Dutch institution like the British Council, the
exhibitions. The choice of collection themes is unique. A Dutch artist in need can apply to the Goethe Institutor the Alliance Francaise. The
made by a programme committee, each State for help. He will usually get it through the difficulty being the barrier of the Dutch
collection by a project group. Artists are well municipal authorities in the town where he lives. languages.
represented in these advisory bodies. The One has to be of a certain age, of good behaviour, A short description of the five major modern
Netherlands Art Foundation (N.K.S.), a 100% an acknowledged artist, who has been able to art museums might clarify some of the aims and
State subsidized private foundation, serves as a live from his art for a specified period, etc. At the policies of the Dutch museum world.
clearing house to arrange exhibition tours other end of the red tape, considered restrictive The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, run
throughout the country and abroad. and patronizing by the artists, the government by the city but actually serving as the national
Representatives from practically all the smaller buys art from the artist and pays him in weekly museum of modern art, gained world renown
museums and cultural centres regularly meet to instalments. This is repeated as long as necessary. during the post-war Sandberg years, as one of
discuss and plan nationwide tour schedules for If the artist has other sources of income a the most active and inventive centres for the
exhibitions both of Dutch and foreign art. A similar amount is discounted from his welfare propagation of the avant-garde. Through its
measure of the cooperation between Dutch earnings. This means that it is difficult to get support of new ideas the museum acts as
museums can also be found in the art magazine out. What the artist earns is slightly more than a catalyst between the art of today and its public.
Museumjournaal, a joint effort of 18 museums the minimum welfare rate. The arrangement has The museum continues to present the most
and galleries. The journal started in 1955 and it certainly helped many artists through a difficult extensive programme of national and
is now the only Dutch magazine specializing in period in their career. It became too easy on the international exhibitions in the country. During
modern art. This year for the first time a yearly other hand to go from the Academy of Fine Arts the last decade they have enlarged and enriched
selection of articles mainly on Dutch to the welfare system or to see it as an early the permanent collection, which now gives a
contemporary art will be published in English. retirement pension. The rules have now been good survey of Dutch 20th-century art and one
There are only too few important private changed and tightened, but the artists still of the best selections of international modern art
collectors of modern art in the Netherlands. demand a complete overhaul of the whole idea. to be found in Europe. A speciality is the large
The country abounds in commercial galleries, What to do with all the art that piles up is one of and representative group of paintings, drawings
especially in Amsterdam, but only very few the headaches of the system. and documents by Kasimir Malevich. The Van
have international standing and none have the A few European countries have now also Gogh collection, on loan in this museum since
financial means for long-term effective support established something that is known in the the thirties, is to go to the new Vincent van Gogh
of a 'stable' of artists. The domestic market for Netherlands as the 1 %-arrangement. Of all new State museum next door, opening in June this
Dutch art is rather weak. The State decided to buildings put up by the State, 1% of the cost of year.
promote art acquisitions by the general public construction may go to the application of art. The Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen in
through a special system of subsidies. A Dutch This is not a law, it is a possibility, mainly used Rotterdam, also a city museum, is mainly known
private person who buys a work of art by a living in relation to University buildings, schools, for its magnificent collection of old art:
Dutch artist in a commercial gallery (not in the hospitals and representative government paintings, drawings and applied arts. In the
artist's studio) priced at not more than 3,000 buildings. sixties the museum embarked on an ambitious
guilders gets 20% off that price with a Municipal authorities adhere to the system programme of modern art acquisitions. It is now
maximum of 24.0 guilders paid by the State. and many of the larger private companies follow the only Dutch museum where a representative
This system is one of the most effective and a similar practice. The results vary. There is selection of surrealist painting can be seen.
least criticized State initiatives in the domain some good sculpture and a few interesting The Municipal Museum in The Hague has
of the fine arts. murals. Recently some promising integrated departments for the history of the city, musical
Dutch artists and especially the more radical environmental projects related to new housing instruments, old applied arts and 19th- and
artists unions are involved in a discussion with developments have been started. The general 20th-century paintings and drawings. The
the government about the necessity of a level is rather senseless and second-rate. Many collection of modern art, mainly Dutch, is known
guaranteed minimal State income for artists. Dutch artists, especially sculptors, find a basic for its 15o plus works by Piet Mondrian
The idea is not as utopian as it seems. Most living through this sort of commission. representing all periods in his oeuvre.
Dutch actors and musicians are practically civil There is a so-called coordinating committee The Kröller-Müller State Museum at
servants nowadays. The following could be seen that channels the flow of exhibitions going Otterlo is situated in the middle of the National
as a first instalment toward such an arrangement. abroad and exhibitions coming to the Park north of Arnhem. The park (15 000 acres)
Whenever an artist grants a loan to the State, be Netherlands. The three Art Departments of the is still owned by a private foundation. The
it one work or a retrospective one-man show, he Ministry of Culture and the Cultural museum features the once private collection of
gets paid a loan compensation. Or in other terms Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mrs Helene Kröller-Müller giving a broad
the State pays rent whenever it wants to use are represented. The directors of the above outline of 19th- and 20th-century French
Dutch art for whatever purpose, inside the mentioned seven museums and a representative painting, including the impressionists, Seurat,
country or abroad. For this a fairly simple tarif of the Council of the Arts hold permanent seats. Picasso, Gris and Leger, with 272 paintings and
system has been fixed with an absolute Such exhibitions are usually financed directly by drawings by Vincent van Gogh as the centre
maximum of 200 guilders per person per the Department of International Relations and of interest. These works by Van Gogh will

204