May 29, 2012

Schiphol Airport Library, a world premiere that’s taking off

Filed under: Aviation,Dutch first,Literature by Orangemaster @ 12:22 pm
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Although it has been around for two years, the Schiphol Airport Library deserves more exposure, especially since it offers a free service, something that you’d be hard pressed to find at any airport. English Breakfast radio in Amsterdam interviewed head librarian Jeanine Deckers who explained that Singapore’s Airport also started up a library, based on the one at Schiphol.

The library takes up a 90 m2 space and is located in the non-Schengen area, past security, near the Rijksmuseum (State Museum) area. It features about 1,250 books, including translated Dutch fiction in 30 languages, photo books, videos and music on iPads. They don’t offer the most recent books, which is fine with the book sellers at the airport. People also donate books to the library, which apparently more than makes up for the few books that are not returned. The library is also open 24/7 and doesn’t need any staff.

This means that I have walked passed it numerous times without knowing it was there, and that I will try and check it out this month when I walk by it once more. My excuse is not having any layovers at Schiphol; I usually have those in London or Paris.

(Links: www.airportlibrary.nl, www.englishbreakfast.nl)

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April 11, 2012

Stolen Greek icons found on Dutch website

Filed under: Art,Religion,Technology by Orangemaster @ 1:33 pm

The Greek authorities discovered icons stolen from a church in Greece in 2009 on the website of a Dutch art dealer who claims he didn’t know they were stolen.

The seven Greek icons, with values ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 euro, were seized by the police in April last year, placed in the Rijksmuseum for safe keeping, and handed over to the Greek Ministry of Culture on December 5, 2011. They date from the 18th and 19th centuries and play an important part in the country’s cultural and historical heritage.

The police explain that works of art are usually sold many years after they have been stolen, and so this discrepancy probably makes it sound like the dealer could be telling the truth. I’ve been told there are international sites to check and see if works or art have been stolen and then I would imagine that the dealer was not very knowledgeable in icons or is not telling the truth.

Even Wikipedia has a page of stolen works of art, with a few Dutch ones as well.

(Link: Trouw.nl, photo: politie.nl)

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August 18, 2009

Rijksmuseum features 80 Surinam and Curaçao photos

Filed under: Art,Photography by Orangemaster @ 10:13 am
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The Rijksmuseum (State Museum) recently secured a long-term loan of some 80 photos from Surinam and Curaçao, two former Dutch colonies. The photo shown here is apparently the oldest known photo from Surinam, a daguerreotype, portraying a mixed race married couple that was taken in 1846 in Paramaribo, seven years after the advent of photography.

The lot is called ‘De West’ and can be admired as of 19 August. It also includes work from reputed photographers such as Augusta Curiel (1873-1937) and Willem Diepraam (1944).

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl, Photo: rijksmuseum.nl)

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April 17, 2009

Berckheyde’s Golden Bend painting claimed by US bank

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Branko Collin @ 8:26 am

The US bank JPMorgan Chase claims to be the rightful owner of De bocht van de Herengracht (around 1672) by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde, writes Volkskrant (Dutch). The Rijksmuseum, which currently has the painting, bought the work in October of last year from one Louis Reijtenbagh, who has since gotten into financial troubles. The bank claims Reijtenbagh never should have sold the painting in the first place, as he had been using it as collateral for a loan.

On April 1, JPMorgan Chase claimed the entire art collection of Reijtenbagh which contains Rembrandts, Monets, Picassos and so on. The location of many of these paintings is apparently unknown, but Berckheyde‘s painting of what later was to be known as the Golden Bend, where Amsterdam’s wealthiest citizens used to live, is currently at display at the National Gallery museum in Washington.

Note by the way that Volkskrant and De Telegraaf show two different pictures, and the Rijksmuseum website has a third painting with the same name. For the illustration of this entry I went with the version I liked best, but if you know which picture is the contested one, let us know.

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August 26, 2008

Hirst’s diamond skull comes to the Rijksmuseum

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 9:15 am
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The famous diamond-bedecked skull by British artist Damien Hirst will be exhibited in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam from 1 November until mid-December. The museum’s director Director Wim Pijbes told De Volkskrant that the contract for showing the work is the strictest he has ever signed. “The skull has to be placed in a dark room without anything else around it. Everything we have to do is in the contract. We cannot mention who the owner is, either.”

The skull, that of an 18th century European covered in platinum and 8,601 diamonds, was sold in 2007 to a group of investors for €75m, the largest sum ever paid for a work by a living artist.

(Link: dutchnews.nl, photo ad.nl)

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December 21, 2007

First “natural ice” speed skating race of the season in Nijelamer

Filed under: Sports by Branko Collin @ 10:43 am

Last Wednesday the Frisian village of Nijelamer was the first in the country to organise speed skating races on natural ice. On a 160-metre track, 38 pairs started, skating two races each: one away from the village and the second race towards it. The person losing both races was out of the competition. In the end, 21-year-old Ronald Mulder from Zwolle won. Two days earlier, skating icon Henk Angenent had expressed doubt on national TV as to whether natural ice races would be held this week. The farmer from Woubrugge had observed fresh mole hills and saw this as a sign that the frost would not stay. But it did, and the skating peloton was happy for it. (Via free daily De Pers, Dutch.)

Photo by StanTheCaddy, distributed under a Creative Commons BY-2.0 license: children skating at the back of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in January 2007.

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