Singer Laren shows women’s emancipation in Dutch art. And that works very well

Two women, two bicycles, the gouache by Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) is that simple Outside by bike is called. Flat and clear as an icon, everything is right. Look how nicely all those shapes fit together, I would love to jigsaw them into a jigsaw puzzle. These women are polar opposites in white and black versus black and white. They have dismounted to look each other in the eye, like cowboys in a staredown.

Furthermore, the scene, now on display in the exhibition The New Woman in Singer Laren, super everyday. But actually we see one of the greatest achievements of the woman of today (and here): being allowed to cycle. That was a recent achievement in 1913, the year that Van der Leck painted it.

The American suffragette Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) said in the late 1800s that the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women “than anything else in the world.” It makes me happy every time I see a woman cycling past. It gives her a sense of self-reliance and independence.’ Absolutely.

With that cycling came – oh horror, many a man thought – cycling clothing. Take another look at the silhouettes of the women in Van der Leck’s gouache. Those are easy to jigsaw because these women don’t seem to be wearing a corset. I admit that a wasp waist does not suit Van der Leck’s straight-lined style anyway and that such an ankle-length skirt is probably also difficult to cycle. But the point now is: would this work of art have been shown earlier in this context, namely within the context of women’s emancipation?

I do not think so. The New Woman was compiled by art historian Maaike Rikhof (25). She specializes in gender history and visual arts around 1900, during which time the focus of the exhibition is. It has a smart and simple design: it shows women’s emancipation in images in Dutch art. And that works very well. In Laren you walk through a kind of hall of fame of special women, arranged thematically.

Some of them are clearly champions of the women’s cause: Aletta Jacobs in a portrait of Isaac Israels, Hedy d’Ancona by (of course) Aat Veldhoen. Others are more casual passers-by on the road to freedom, such as these women with their bicycles. Not everything is of an equally high artistic quality, but the story that is told is very convincing. It is special to be surrounded by works of art depicting almost exclusively women, room after room after room. And most importantly: that it says who they are.

Suffragette Anthony, who felt that the bicycle had done the greatest service to women’s emancipation, was asked in the same 1896 interview, “What do you think the new woman will be like?” Her answer: ‘She will be free. She will be whatever she wants to be according to her best judgement.’

Such ‘free women’ naturally decide for themselves how they want to present themselves. We see the new woman at her freest in self-portraits by, for example, Suze Robertson, Marlene Dumas, Iris van Dongen, Ina van Zyl and Elly Tamminga. By the way, they come from five different collections and can now be seen in the same room about the ‘Creative genius’. That room alone is worth a visit to Singer Laren, to be able to look these artists in the eye.