Your anecdote about the Stedelijk

1984, studeerde ik aan het Sweelinck conservatoruim en bezocht La Grande Parade. Diep onder de indruk van de enorme hoeveelheid prachtige werken, ging ik weer en sindsdien kwam ik bijna vaker in het Stedelijk dan in het Sweelink. 2012, bijna 28 jaar later studeer ik af aan de Open Universiteit Nederland Master kunst&cultuurwetenschappen. Mijn onderzoek gaat over La Grande Parade en weer was ik diep onder de indruk van al die fantastische schilderijen.

Dank voor je reactie, fijn dat je deze ervaring met ons wil delen!

In September 2009 I tried really hard to find you with no success. All I got when I asked to other museums was ”We don’t know where those guys are at”.

I’m from Mexico but next time I am going to look harder for you and will find you.

My parents were frequent visitors at the Stedelijk when I was a child. My first visit as a baby in 1966 I spent sleeping in my pram in the wardrobe (could it have been an an exhibition of Co Westerik?) Ofcourse my parents couldn’t keep leaving me in the wardrobe and over the years I must have been to many exhibitions. The one piece that fascinated me most though was the Beanery by Edward Kienholz, and every time I came to the Stedelijk  I spent time in it. Ofcourse when I had children of my own I took them there, but one day it was gone…

September 1970. First visit to the Netherlands, soaking up landscape, urbanscape, language, art, music, ezw. Stedelijk open until 10 or 11 pm, an enlightened policy. In front of the building, near the corner, I step onto paving stones on the sidewalk, maybe five of them, that gently give way beneath my foot, then just as gently spring back. A spectacularly genial artwork, subversive, transformative, hilarious. I hope it’s in the permanent collection. Who is/was the artist?

Cubaanse Affiches, Stedelijk Musuem. May – June 1971

In 1971 while attending the opening of Ed Kienholz’s, “10 Tableaux”, at the ICA in London, I met Stedelijk Museum curator Ad Peterson. One week later I was lunching with him at the museums restaurant in Amsterdam and by some weird coincidence Ed Ruscha was there too. I introduced myself that I was from LA and invited him to join us. He was on his way to Groninger. Later Ad suggested we check out his new show, Cubaanse Affiches, poster art from Cuba. The show presented a huge array of posters with diverse imagery, the Angolan war, Che Guevara, anti- Americanism, cultural directives and topics presented in graphic styles that reflected many influences, truly hybrid. It was my first experience with great propaganda art and one which I will never forget. I remember Ed pointing to one he liked, a pitch black poster which had one word in the center: CLIK.

Begin jaren zeventig. Een enthousiaste tekenleraar neemt zijn klas vanuit Alkmaar mee naar het Stedelijk in Amsterdam. Ik ben vijftien jaar en niet eerder in een museum voor beeldende kunst geweest.
Ik kom thuis
en ben altijd gebleven.
 

Thanks for sharing Raul, great story!

Dank voor je reactie Tom!

Thanks for sharing Marielle, I’m delighted to tell you that the Beanery will be on display again once we reopen!