Tradition as Workshop

Artist Harmen Brethouwer (NL, 1960) uses only two basic forms in his work: the square wall panel and the spatial cone shape. While both basic forms remain constant, Brethouwer executes the individual works in very different ways, without any restrictions in style, technique, or material. He has a particular interest in historical and traditional art forms. What drives him is not nostalgia, but the desire to work with others—specialists, craftsmen—to create works that yield new insights and enrich art with new possibilities. He sees his role in the creative process as that of an impresario: he oversees the production of his work without taking center stage. With works from his own collection and from museum and private collections, the artist draws attention in Tradition as a Workshop to his definition of tradition: not as a state of stagnation, but rather of development. Two traditions are central here: Japanese lacquer art and the craft of bell casting.

Harmen Brethouwer

Harmen Brethouwer studied at the academies of fine arts in Kampen and Arnhem. Since the 1990s, he has exhibited in museums and galleries in the Netherlands and abroad, including (solo) exhibitions at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and Centraal Museum, Utrecht. His work is part of the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Museum Arnhem, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, and Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, as well as companies and private individuals.