Because there is some catching up to do, we can’t get enough of it. With the exhibition ‘From art’, the Groninger Museum reflects on nine Groningen women in art.
The year is 1825. Henriëtte Guillemina Wolthers-Brockes decides to take part in a competition organized by the Groningen Drawing Society. She sends in a watercolor of a piece of fruit on a Delft blue plate and wins the first prize. She receives five ducats as a reward. Plus a certificate.
Small news, we think now, almost 200 years later. Women win so many awards, especially in the visual arts. Just ask Minerva Academy. Henriëtte caused a sensation in her time. Not that she was in the only woman making art, because she wasn’t. But winning games was mainly done by men.
Look how handsome. For a woman
There was something else striking, curator Egge Knol discovered when putting together the exhibition From art with work by Groningen women artists from the 18th and 19th century. Henriëtte had to hand in her prize-winning work. The society wanted to use it for educational purposes. Look how handsome. For a woman.
Nine artists will be met From art rescued from oblivion – although not all women are forgotten. Albarta ten Oever (1772 – 1854) is still a resounding name. Last year, the Groninger Museum purchased two of her paintings: Winter face (1806) and Swiss landscape (1815). Sientje Mesdag – Van Houten (1834 – 1909) may even be called famous.
The best thing is what you don’t know yet
In art, the best thing is what you don’t know yet. Such as the work of Hillegonda Adriana Meurs-Sibinga (1746 – 1820), a lady from a wealthy family who spent part of her time studying flowers. It didn’t stop there.
She decided to depict them in watercolor. When her son Wolther one day found a beautiful bunch of flowers with forget-me-nots in his friends book, he knew how far maternal love could reach.
The eye-catcher of this successful exhibition – the last of curator Knol, who will retire in September – is the work of Elisabeth Geertruida Wassenbergh (1729 – 1781). The oil painting appeals to the imagination Something is happening in the hallway that she made shortly before her death.
The viewer sees everything and is complicit
We see a man who seems to be assaulting a woman, something that is discussed in an adjoining room and everyone thinks his or hers. The viewer sees everything and is therefore complicit. # WeToo in the 18th century.
Wassenbergh specialized in refined work on a small surface and managed to make quite a name for it. After her death, admirers came to visit her widower. Until after a while someone came up with the idea to provide her work with other signatures. A man’s signature fetched more.
The exhibition ‘From art’ can be seen in the Groninger Museum until 17 September