Art critic and former director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Rudi Fuchs compiles an overview of the work of Edgar Fernhout (1912-1974), with special attention to the years in which his drive for innovation placed him at the forefront of Dutch painting.
Light in Color
Edgar Fernhout
“The artist is merely a fuel for our imagination. In our minds, the sensation, the story, the dream arises. Fernhout never disappointed. His work is consistent in its expressiveness; it reads like a poem.” Edgar Fernhout (1912 – 1974) sketched by Rudi Fuchs, an expert and friend of Fernhout, former director of, among others, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and guest curator of the exhibition Edgar Fernhout – Light in Color at Museum Kranenburgh. Fuchs’ presentation focuses on the 1960s and 1970s, when Fernhout, through his innovative drive, operated at the forefront of Dutch painting. Once out of the shadow of his late mother, Charley Toorop, Fernhout chose abstraction, with the nature around Bergen and the effect of light within the landscape as inexhaustible sources of fascination. Featuring some thirty works from the museum’s own, museum, and private collections, the exhibition invites you to truly experience autumn light, the light of the sea, or the color of frosty weather.
Publication
A booklet, also titled “Edgar Fernhout – Light in Color,” will be published to accompany the exhibition. It contains a reflection by Rudi Fuchs on Fernhout’s artistry, as well as numerous images of his paintings. Design: Rutger Fuchs. Available for purchase in the Kranenburgh museum shop from June 23, 2019.
Listen to the podcast
Want to know more about the exhibition Light in Color - Edgar Fernhout? Listen to the podcast in which Caspar Stalenhoef talks with Rudi Fuchs and artist Jan Dibbets, who experienced Edgar Fernhout firsthand.
Edgar Fernhout. Licht in kleur (met Rudi Fuchs en Jan Dibbets)
In de schilderijen die Edgar Fernhout (1912-1974) in…
Curator
Rudi Fuchs
Rudi Fuchs (Eindhoven, 1942) has been active as an art critic, columnist, and publicist since 1962, currently writing for De Groene Amsterdammer, among others. He studied art history and became director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, where he organized a solo exhibition of Edgar Fernhout in 1976. He subsequently served as director of the Haags Gemeentemuseum and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (until 2003). As artistic director, he was affiliated with the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Turin and Documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany. Fuchs was the first professor to hold the chair of Art Presentation at the University of Amsterdam.
Artworks
Edgar Fernhout
Herfst
1964
