Culture creates collections – collections create culture
According to Wikipedia a private museum ‘is a collection usually on a very limited topic and
operated by individual enthusiasts, clubs or companies’.
This definition shows that Wikipedia isn’t always the best source for information and
documentation.
Three completely different Dutch private museums/collections prove that this kind of
museum can meet the requirements of ICOM.
The first one is the Bredius Museum in The Hague.
Abraham Bredius (1855-1946) has been the director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague from
1889-1909. He is considered to be the first genuine Dutch art historian. During his
directorship he acquired about 30 important paintings for the Mauritshuis. But at the same
time he built up a private collection: paintings, drawings, etches and objects of applied art
(furniture, porcelain, silver, crystal), all from the 17th century. Nowadays it is unacceptable to
collect objects from the same period as the museum is based on. It is considered to be in
conflict with our conception of integrity (conflict of interests). In his will Bredius donated
many paintings to the Mauritshuis and other Dutch art museums, the ones he had given on
loan to these museum during his life. His patrician house from the 17th century was sold to
the municipality of The Hague in 1922, when he moved to Monaco. In addition to the sale he
donated the painting ‘The Satyr and the Farmer’ of Jan Steen! His private collection was
given in loan as ‘Museum Bredius’ and donated after he passed away. Until 1985 The
Gemeentemuseum has been in charge of the administration of the museum. The museum
was closed because of the recession in the eighties.
At that time art lovers (sponsors at the same time) established the Bredius Society. The
Society raised 1.000.000 Dutch guilders by renting the collections to museums in Japan and
the USA. So it got the money for a restart of Museum Bredius. Not anymore in Bredius’s
original house – it was completely neglected for decennia – but in an 18th century house
opposite the Mauritshuis and the Parliament buildings and next to the exhibition rooms of
the famous Dutch Art dealers Hoogsteder and Hoogsteder (father and son). The museum
opened in 1990. The Hoogsteders are the driving force of the museum. The day-to-day
running, the maintenance of the collection, the organisation of temporary exhibitions are all
done on a voluntary basis; of course with the help of a Board of art lovers and many
volunteers.
With an annual budget of less than Euro 200.000 (taking into account that the municipality
rents the house for 1 Euro) the intimate museum attracts 8.000 visitors annually. They are
impressed by the quality of the collection (almost the same as it was in 1922) and the
wonderful recreation of the private house of Abraham Bredius. For, performance in the arts
must be measured by the quality, not by the size of the market. In this respect it is an
excellent example of a museum in a museum. In the safe hands of private art lovers, not of
an unreliable public authority in an era of recession!
The second museum is Beelden aan Zee (Sculptures on the Seaside) The collection has been
built up over a period of 40 years. For about 30 years by the creators of the museum, the
couple Theo en Lida Scholten. The theme of the collection is the image of man. Almost the
entire collection was and is acquired directly from the artists. The collection shows how
artists working on the theme perceive mankind from the second half of the 20th century
until the present day. . From the very beginning in 1965 the founders had a clear artistic
preference for the traditional sculptural art.
Ever since the museum was opened, a number (125) of partners (volunteers) have been
studying the work of the sculptors and recorded in texts about the artists and their work
present in the museum collection.
The museum itself is right on the coast. It was built on a sand dune overlooking the
Scheveningen Boulevard. Former Queen Beatrix, a sculptor herself, performed the opening,
September 9th, 1994.
The museum is adorned by a pavilion built in 1826, on order of King William I for his wife
Wilhelmina.
The charm of a private collection and the privilege of a private collector is the freedom in
what is collected. Basic principles were formed ‘while they collected’. This gives the
collection a spontaneous and to a certain extent random composition, as occurs quite often
in collections that stem from a private collection (compare Kröller – Müller).
The earliest acquisitions of Lida and Theo Scholten were mainly the work of Dutch sculptors.
From the seventies their orientation intensified to Europe, with a particular interest in the
German-speaking area on both sides of the iron curtain. Currently the collection has a totally
international orientation with respect to purchasing as well as to exhibition policy. The Dutch
sculptors are now in the minority.
The museum itself has been designed by the famous Dutch (museum)architect Wim Quist
(Kröller – Müller extension, Museon). He created altogether 3100m2 of exhibition space inand outside.
Beelden aan Zee is a foundation, a 100% private museum with no government operating
subsidy. There are very limited funds for paid staff. The driving force is the volunteer
organisation. 125 so-called ‘partners’ run the museum. Hired experts teach these volunteers
the tricks of the trade in the areas of art history, sculpture and museums.
Since 2004 the museum has been enlarged by the ‘Sculpture Instituut’. It is an international
expertise centre and a research institute for modern and contemporary sculpture with a
specialised library. The institute takes up research projects, publishes scientific studies and
catalogues and organises seminars and lectures. The present director, Jan Teeuwisse, is also
professor at the Leiden University. He says:
‘The museum houses an international collection of sculptures in which the human figure is
central, where human dignity, however vulnerable, predominates. In fact, a sculptural Family
of Man.
The third example is the Rabo Kunstzone (Rabo Art Zone)
After 25 years (since 1984) of collecting contemporary art the management of the Rabobank
decided to share its collection with a wider audience. Next to the main entrance of the new
head office a huge exhibition hall has been built, accessible to everybody who wants to visit
the temporary exhibitions. Employees of the bank, clients, relations and passers-by attracted
by the show-windows of the Kunstzone. The Kunstzone opened in 2011.
The collection consists of 2000 works of art. It started as a collection to decorate the offices
of the employees, and grew in size and quality to one of the most important collections of
mainly Dutch contemporary art in The Netherlands. Not only of the young, new generations,
but also exceptional – internationally renowned – ‘old ones’. The Rabobank art historians are
looking for the best works of art made since the fifties. Recently works of art from outside
The Netherlands are collected. Also because the Rabobank itself has more and more
globalized its scope in business matters.
The Kunstzone as such is an experiment for The Netherlands. Unlike the situation in the USA
there are no spots in the town, where trade and industry and art meet each other. We are
used to see art in museums and galleries, in a rather closed environment. But The Kunstzone
is only separated from the street by a glass shop front. It reminds of former times, when art
was ‘at home’ everywhere: in churches, town halls and other public spaces. Where paintings
from Rembrandt hung between the people. The Kunstzone is not a silent museum room, but
a lively, free accessible space, where art is alive, an inspiring ‘sound board’, for its visitors.
The Rabobank Art Collection includes over 80 artists. The curators know them well and they
follow them. Sometimes closely, sometimes at a distance. The curators are looking for work
that is ‘on the skin of the present’ and that marks an important step for the artist. In this way
the curators help the artists build their works. For the annual solo exhibition in the Art Zone,
the curators choose top talent. An artist who, moreover, connects with one of the three
important storylines in the collection:
People: the human condition
Society: engagement
The idea: conceptual
So every year a promising artist – already present in the collection – is asked to produce new
works of art. A work related to actual questions/problems in our society. So did for example
the Spanish artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo (Tank Man: he investigates the contrasts
between beauty and violence, revolution and victory and so on)
The Rabobank considers art as the barometer of society. Contemporary art is a reflection of
our time; art that makes you think. Art shows the era we live in. It fits in with a bank, that
operates in the middle of society.
What have the three, completely different, Dutch museums in common? Or, in general,
what have many private museums in common?
1. Freedom in collecting
Private museums are characterized by selection of objects instead of accumulation of
objects.
2. Freedom in showing/displaying
Private museums are not obliged or cannot be forced to organise exhibitions or other
activities inspired by the ideas and desires of political authorities and/or sponsors.
3. Freedom in loans
In public museum to lend or to obtain the loan of objects is subject to many
restrictions and regulations. In some cases even the permission of the Minister of
Culture is needed.
Private museums are free to arrange loans according to their own rules.
4. Freedom in employment
In public museums it isn’t allowed for paid staff members to be replaced by
volunteers. That’s why volunteers in public museums are never involved in the core
business of the museum.
In private museums volunteers can be and are in fact curators, scientists, researchers,
students in museology and art history etc.
5. Freedom in finances
Public museums are most of the time highly dependent on state grants. (Or
provincial, municipal money). In times of financial crisis in particular private museums
are less vulnerable. Their existence is not based on state grants, but on private
financial sources (wherever they come from!)
For all these reasons private museums must not try to copy public museums in all matters.
Depending on its collection a private museum must select its own policy towards its
audience. In my view it means for the future Leventis Gallery, taking into account its
collection, that it should focus on intergenerational education. The collection offers great
opportunities to youngsters, parents and grandparents to communicate and to learn from
each other, to build bridges between the minds and feelings of the successive generations. It
can be hands on, minds on, eyes on!. The collection give youngsters the opportunity to
mirror their own identity; it appeals to the imagination of all members of the family,
broadens their minds, and reflects their lives. Knowing the collection I believe more in
intergenerational education than in education of school groups. Children become
‘educators’ of their parents and grandparents and vice versa. Together they can search the
past and find the present. An existing European Network may be inspiring: ENIL (European
Network for Intergenerational Learning). Intergenerational learning means: ‘creating the
conditions for people of different ages to work together in order to transfer from one to the
other specific skills, knowledge and abilities in a mutual beneficial way'.
Because: Culture creates collections, collections create culture.