Henriëtte van 't Hoog
Amsterdam (the Netherlands), 1943
In her visual language, Henriette van ’t Hoog (1943) limits herself to rectangular shapes, in which angles of 90˚ are an exception. She creates dimensional, cube-like shapes, that seem to collapse the moment you walk past. This also goes for the more perspectivical shapes, that have this disturbing effect and put the spectator on the wrong track. Yet this is exactly Van ’t Hoog’s purpose.
Henriette van ’t Hoog has only started working abstractly at a later stage in life. In the beginning she painted according to perception, but gradually the shapes of the objects in her still-lifes became more important than the whole. For De Lakenhal Open Air Museum, Van ’t Hoog has created a mural entitled Equilibrium III. This work deals with colour and shape; the equality of both. Fore- and background are lacking in the works, of which the areas are painted in a clear hue.
The language of shapes and the personal system of Van ’t Hoog are inspired by De Stijl. As an abstractly working artist, Van ’t Hoog is at ease with the visual language of De Stijl artists. At the same time, she creates her own universe with new means, such as more dimensional shapes and new media.
Van ’t Hoog has taught at the Academie Minerva and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. From 1996 to 2007 she was involved as a teacher at the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Hartfordshire in Hatfield (UK).
