RKD STUDIES

compiled and edited by Ton Geerts

Introduction

Art & Project was founded in Amsterdam in September 1968 by Geert van Beijeren Bergen en Henegouwen (1933-2005) and Adriaan van Ravesteijn (1938-2015). The gallery was initially located in Van Ravesteijn's parental home on Richard Wagnerstraat in Amsterdam-Zuid. Its first exhibition - of sculptures by German artist Charlotte Posenenske - took place from 19 September 1968 in the hall of the semi-detached 1955 house and attracted little attention. In March 1970, Gilbert & George stood here for several hours as pose sculptures, a performance they had previously performed at the Stedelijk Museum. Art & Project was initially open only in the evenings and on weekends, later also in the afternoons. No invitations were initially sent out and no openings took place.

From its beginnings, Art & Project presented a well-known group of international artists who belonged to the then avant-garde and were considered to belong to minimal art, conceptual art or land art. In addition to the exhibitions, the Art & Project Bulletin was published. The bulletins were always compiled on instructions by the exhibiting artists themselves and were sent as 'exhibitions by post', independent of place and time, to interested parties at home and abroad. The gallery thus significantly expanded its artistic network. Artists contributing to the gallery (and the bulletin) were: Douglas Huebler, Lawrence Weiner, Sol LeWitt, Robert Barry, Richard Long, Stanley Brouwn, Gilbert & George, Alighiero Boetti, Francesco Clemente, Allen Ruppersberg, Ger van Elk, John Baldessari, Hamish Fulton, Jan Dibbets, Ian Wilson, Bas Jan Ader and Daniel Buren.

After this strongly internationally oriented period, the gallery also had great significance for many Dutch artists of successive generations. For Carel Visser, Stanley Brouwn, Ben Akkerman, Ger van Elk, Toon Verhoef, Emo Verkerk, Adam Colton, Han Schuil, Jos Kruit, Joris Geurts, Leo Vroegindeweij and Ab van Hanegem, their exhibitions at Art & Project marked the beginning or continuation of a successful career. Finally, the Slootdorp period saw successful debuts by Koen Vermeule, Hans Broek, Rinke Nijburg and Jurriaan Molenaar.

In 1989, the gallery moved to Slootdorp (Wieringermeer) in North Holland, where housing was found in the former community house of the Jewish Working Village of Nieuwesluis. In December 2001, the gallery closed. A few years later, Geert van Beijeren died. After this, Adriaan van Ravesteijn continued the transfer of collection and archive. Van Ravesteijn died in 2015.

During Art & Project's more than thirty-three-year existence, Geert van Beijeren and Adriaan van Ravesteijn assembled a considerable collection of art. Although, as Van Ravesteijn makes clear, there had never been any deliberate collecting over many years, after the gallery ended, a collection of more than 850 artworks turned out to have been formed, reflecting the gallery's programme and, in many cases, the development of the various individual artists. In addition to autonomous artworks, a large collection of prints was also assembled. This collection (which altogether consists of more than 1,500 works), continued to live on under the name Art & Project/Depot VBVR (VB and VR after the initials of both gallery owners), was housed by Van Beijeren and Van Ravesteijn in a number of museums, very consciously chosen taking into account the existing collections: the Kröller-Müller Museum, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The very extensive archive, including a collection of over 900 artists' books and art publications, was housed at the RKD.

This RKD Study Art & Project: collections and archive provides an overview of Art & Project's rich legacy. It also aims to initiate further research by collecting and providing essential building blocks. Thus, for the first time in the form of a catalogue, it provides an overview of the more than 1500 artworks in the Art & Project/Depot VBVR collection. Less well known is the collection of design and handicrafts, mostly now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, which is briefly described and illustrated here. The collection of artists' books and own publications, part of the archive, is also described here. To study the history of the gallery, overviews of the important Art & Project Bulletin, all printed invitations and mailings, a complete list of exhibitions and an extensive bibliography are included. Some essays included here provide insight into the history and functioning of Art & Project. Simultaneously with this study, the RKD's website also makes the inventory of the extensive archive public for the first time. An English translation of this is available in this publication.

This publication came about thanks to the help of many. First of all, I would like to thank my RKD colleagues: Evelien de Visser and Samantha de Wolf for entering many artworks into RKD Images, Lynne van Rhijn for her attentive look at the bibliography. Iveta Stanislavová made the first selection from the large collection of artists' books. Petra Luijkx described most of the artists' books. Rudger Jansen I thank for sharing his knowledge of special artist publications. Special thanks go to Lidy Visser who worked for years on the inventory of the Art & Project archive and spent many hours on it with Adriaan van Ravesteijn. I had many discussions with her about the form and content of the archive and visited Adriaan in Leeuwarden several times. After her retirement, care of the archive was taken over by Gwen Reedijk. Vicky Foster edited the many images for the final Art & Project/Depot VBVR catalogue. Chris Stolwijk, Sabine Craft-Giepmans I thank for their patience and trust. Reinier van 't Zelfde, Rianne Piening and Edda Japing for their technical assistance with this RKD Study and Hans van de Willige for his editorial view.

Without the help and willingness of the museums that have included artworks from the Art & Project/Depot VBVR collection in their collections, this publication would not have come about either. My thanks from the Kunstmuseum Den Haag: Doede Hardeman, the late Hans Janssen with whom I interviewed Adriaan van Ravesteijn, Jolanda Zonderop and Benno Tempel. At the Rijksmuseum Twenthe: Ruud ter Beeke, Josien Beltman and the late Joke d'Audretsch, Jos Grundel and Arnoud Odding. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York: Christophe Cherix, Ava Childers, Kim Conaty, Robert Kastler, Kunbi Oni, John Prochilo and Jennifer Seller. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen: Sjarel Ex, Helmy Frank, Hanna Leijen. The Kröller-Müller Museum: Tanja de Boer, Rachelle van den Broek, Marjon Gemmeke, Jannet de Goede, Jip Hinten and Lisette Pelsers. The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: Rein Wolfs and Michiel Nijhoff. In addition, the following were helpful in providing information and permission to publish material: Louisa Riley Smith (20th Century Art Archives, Cambridge), Norma Mangione (Archivio Salvo), Hitoshi Kubo, (Keio University Art Center, Tokyo), Yoshi Hill, Kitty Ooms-Van Elk, Han Schuil, Leo Vroegindeweij, Adam Colton, Toon Verhoef, Harm Visser, Joris Geurts, Bill Woodrow, Jan Commandeur, Narcisse Tordoir and Jo Melvin (Estate of Barry Flanagan).

Finally, I would like to thank the Herman and Henriëtte van Eelen-Weeber Foundation for their generous financial contribution that made the work on this RKD Study possible.

Simultaneously with this publication, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo is organising the exhibition The Love of Art Comes First: Art & Project at the Kröller-Müller Museum, 30 September 2023 - 25 February 2024 and the publication:
Jannet de Goede and Lisette Pelsers (ed.), Art & Project: A History, Otterlo: Kröller-Müller Museum; The Hague: RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History; Rotterdam: nai010 publishers 2023. From 10 October 2023 a modest exhibition on photography in artists' books form the Art & Project-collection will be shown at the RKD.

Years ago, Adriaan van Ravesteijn expressed his wish to one day publish an overview of the VBVR collection, in collaboration with the museums, possibly as a coffee table book. Of course, a coffee table book turned out to be, also in Adriaan van Ravesteijn's eyes, too modest and limited an option. I hope that with this publication, his wish has been posthumously fulfilled.