Alma-Tadema – classic seduction.
Recommended !
Yesterday we went to Leeuwarden by train. Altogether there and back we traveled about 5 hours to visit the exhibition Alma Tadema – classic seduction. The exhibition runs from October 1, 2016 to February 7, 2017. This gives me the opportunity to once again make this journey and start watching again. The long journey is worth it.
From Leeuwarden station, the route was indicated on the sidewalk by large prints of two paintings of Alma Tadema. A funny and cheerful pr. The prints looked good and firmly made by wear-resistant material, because many feet walk over them since October 1st.
Differences
There are some differences to the current exhibition in the Fries Museum and that of 20 years ago in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. There are a lot of paintings exhibited that I have not seen in Amsterdam. Furthermore, there is a lot to see on the workshop, paintings by his artist friends that hang in his house in a gallery and work of his daughter Anna and his wife Laura. Anna is, I think, at the same height as her father. Too bad she never again painted after his death. There are also many drawings, etchings and other interesting objects and artifacts to see. Unfortunately, “The Wine Festival”, “Tepidarium”, “Between hope and fear”, “The Sculptors Gallery” and “women of Amphissa” were not to be seen in Leeuwarden. But then again “dedicated to Bacchus” the, “Roses of Heliogabalus,” “Reading from Homer” are exhibited as well as many other paintings. Another eye catcher in Leeuwarden is “Moses found”.
In Leeuwarden there are much more paintings in the room than in Amsterdam. Therefore it was very busy (even though the autumn holidays were over} and it was not possible to see large paintings from a distance. That’s too bad. I could spend hours sitting quietly on a bench in the middle of the room at the Van Gogh Museum to look at a painting. However, the Fries Museum is projecting clips from different movies on the walls above the paintings, to show how the paintings of Alma Tadema served as a model. They project films from the early days of the film industry, but also later, big productions, like Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, Cleopatra, Gladiator, etc.
Book
A wonderful book is published on the occasion of this exhibition: Alma-Tadema – a classic seduction. I was not intending to buy anything because I already possess the joint publication “Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema”, of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and Walker Art Galery, Liverpool. Nevertheless, I succumbed, at the expense of the Fries Museum still contains a lot of new things and images.
At home compared the two books. They beautifully complement each other. And my fingers itch to get back to work. This painter can teach you so much. It is unfortunate that he is no longer alive, otherwise I would definitely like to have lessons from him. Now, I indulge myself with studying his work. That makes me suddenly think of two studies that I made in the watercolor technique in 2000. His way of painting fabrics is sublime, as is the way he paints the skin. I chose watercolor because I still want to give my own twist to the work. See here the results of 16 years ago:
Een studie naar Alma Tadema 1, aquarel ca. 50×60 cm.
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Here I give you another interesting link: “ Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema – The complete works – Page 14 ,
Alma-Tadema – classic seduction
