The American Friends of the Mauritshuis would like to welcome, Douglas H. Short to our Board of Directors.
Douglas has always had an interest and been involved with supporting the arts, specifically music and visual arts. Supporting the Mauritshuis will allow him to continue his involvement and deepen his knowledge and admiration for the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age of art, which was also his wife’s favorite when she was a docent at the Metropolitan Museum.
Having spent most of his International Banking career in Asia and Europe, and living in Indonesia for many years, Douglas acquired an interest in the intertwining of the history of Holland and Indonesia, including the food, architecture and art He hopes to bring a unique international perspective of these two diverse countries and spark an interest and appreciation of Dutch art with a global group of associates.
We look forward to Douglas’s participation as a Board Member of AFMH as we continue to seek awareness and increase the membership base of American Friends of the Mauritshuis.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the Mauritshuis, I am delighted to share some news about recent developments at the museum and some exciting upcoming projects. At the same time, we hope that you will take a moment to renew your membership in the American Friends of the Mauritshuis and help spread the word about our mission and impact!
The Mauritshuis had a busy and productive 2018, punctuated by special events that captured the public imagination. The museum presented several innovative projects, from the conservation of the Girl with a Pearl Earring, accomplished in full public view, to the launch of “Meet Vermeer,” an Augmented Reality app created in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture and twenty-six other collections. It was also an exceptional year for acquisitions, with seven additions to the collection. And the Mauritshuis presented three exhibitions in 2018, including the critically acclaimed Jan Steen’s Histories, to which the American Friends made a significant contribution. We are off to another strong in 2019 – with attendance up significantly over last year, partly thanks to a special Rembrandt exhibition. I hope you’ve been able to follow along in the Mauritshuis in Focus. By the way, translations in the magazine are also made possible by our American Friends.
This year the American Friends also provided essential support for the Fulbright-American Friends of the Mauritshuis Grant. Kathryn (Kat) Harada is thrilled to be the 2018-2019 American Friends of the Mauritshuis/Fulbright Fellow in Paintings Conservation at the Mauritshuis. Kat graduated from Smith College in 2008 with a BA in Art History and Italian and earned an M.A. and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Art Conservation from SUNY Buffalo State College in 2017. She worked as a pre-program conservation intern at Shangri La, Doris Duke’s former residence in Honolulu before pursuing her studies in Buffalo. During her graduate training, she focused on the research and treatment of Old Master to 19th century painting and held internships at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Gallery of Art. Kat came to The Hague from Los Angeles, where she was completing a post graduate internship year at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Her main project at the Mauritshuis is the restoration and research of two pendant portraits by Nicolaes Maes, which will be exhibited in the permanent collection at the same time as the museum presents a Maes exhibition this Fall. The American Friends play a vital role in this Fulbright fellowship grant, enabling the next generation of conservators to develop in their profession.
Cornelis de Heem, Fruit Still Life, c. 1670 (inv. nr. 50, detail)
We are now seeking support for a very special exhibition, which will bring our organizations even closer together. The museum plans to organize a show during the summer of 2020 about conservation: why, how and when are paintings treated? The conservation studio, under the eaves of the Mauritshuis, is not open to the public, but this exhibition will let visitors in on the “secret,” and elucidate the often dramatic transformation that the paintings undergo during treatment. One of the paintings to go on display is a still life by Cornelis de Heem, which was treated by the first Fulbright-American Friends of the Mauritshuis Fellow, Ellen Nigro. Another story in the show is about the very special frame, made possible by the American Friends, for Rembrandt’s Susanna. Exhibitions such as this, even ones that draw largely on the museum’s own collection, are expensive to organize, especially to the very high standard that the Mauritshuis has set. Our target is to raise $25,000, which will go a long way to enabling us to realize this special project. We understand that you must have many interests and obligations, but hope that you will consider offering additional support to make possible this “behind-the-scenes” view of the art of conservation.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Susanna, 1636 (inv. nr. 147, detail)
In the meantime, we hope that we can count on you to renew your membership with the American Friends of the Mauritshuis. All contributions are fully tax deductible, in keeping with the IRS guidelines for accredited 501(c)(3) organizations in the United States.
Please note our address has changed to: 1E 53rd Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10022.
On behalf of the members of the Board of the American Friends of the Mauritshuis, thank you again for your steadfast partnership as we continue to provide support for and create even greater awareness of the Mauritshuis in the United States. I think we all agree that it is a very special museum and one that not only deserves to be better known, but also one that is more than worthy of our ongoing support.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the Mauritshuis, I welcome this opportunity to share with you our progress over the past year. We are deeply grateful for your valuable friendship and commitment to joining our efforts in promoting and supporting this artistic jewel of The Netherlands.
As you may remember, we entered into a collaboration with the prestigious Fulbright Program in 2016. We have been making great progress this past year in raising funds for a dedicated endowment in support of this important fellowship program. Thanks to some of our most loyal donors, we are now more than half way toward our goal of raising $500,000 which will support the continuance of the fellowship for years to come. We hope we can count on your ongoing support, and if you would like to make an extra tax-exempt donation to our Fulbright Program as the year prepares to draw to a close, please reach out to me directly at monasadler at aol.com.
You will be delighted to know that the Mauritshuis has enjoyed another successful year. With the recent opening of a new exhibition, National Trust – Dutch Masters from British Country Houses, twenty-two paintings from twelve National Trust houses are now on view. Never before has such a large group of Dutch paintings owned by the National Trust traveled outside the United Kingdom. If your travels during the holidays bring you to or near The Hague, please don’t miss this spectacularly-designed exhibition which will be on view until January 6, 2019.
The New Year 2019 marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt van Rijn’s death. This specially-designated “Rembrandt Year” will be marked by special events and exhibitions honoring this pre-eminent Dutch Master throughout the Netherlands. The Mauritshuis has one of the world’s most renowned collections of paintings by Rembrandt and will exhibit all of the paintings that are part of the permanent collection attributed to Rembrandt. Next October, the Mauritshuis will also present the first-ever retrospective of paintings by Nicolaes Maes – considered Rembrandt’s most talented pupil. The exhibition will include a very special painting by Rembrandt, The Sacred Family, which will be on loan from the legendary Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. This work not only makes clear the very special connection between Maes and Rembrandt, but it has special relevance in this Rembrandt Year.
Our new Fulbright Fellow Kathryn Harada will be contributing to this project by researching and conserving two portraits by Maes from the Mauritshuis’s permanent collection.
17 October 2019 – 19 January 2020 – The Mauritshuis presents an exhibition on Nicolaes Maes, one of Rembrandt’s most talented pupils, in the autumn of 2019. This is the first retrospective exhibition of this painter from Dordrecht. Maes started his career painting biblical representations, which clearly show his master´s influence. In subsequent years he painted intimate domestic scenes, which usually focussed on women engaged in household chores. Beginning in the 1660s, Maes developed an elegant style of portraiture that was popular with his clients in Dordrecht and Amsterdam. Featuring over thirty paintings the exhibition shows all aspects of Maes’s varied oeuvre.
Thank you for your continued appreciation of the importance of the Mauritshuis, as one of today’s most important and renowned museums. Your support makes such a difference in our ability to promote its continued relevance and appeal to art lovers not only here in the United States but internationally. We look forward to sharing our continued progress. With best wishes to you and yours for a wonderful holiday season and New Year!
