Museum De Lakenhal INSPIRED, CONNECTED and RENEWED in 2013 and presents a promising programme for 2014.
Tuesday December 31 2013
Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden closed the year successfully. The museum looks back on a year full of highlights, with the extraordinary presentations ‘Mighty Glass’ and ‘WORLD TREASURES. From Cicero to Erwin Olaf’ in spring, with the selection of a talented architect team for its long- anticipated renovation and expansion, with a successful crowd-funding programme for the restoration of a medieval altar piece and – on top of all that – the innovative exhibition UTOPIA. In 2013, Museum De Lakenhal received nearly 60.000 visitors.
2013 in retrospect
UTOPIA
In 2013, Museum De Lakenhal received nearly 60.000 visitors and the majority thereof arrived during the exhibition ‘UTOPIA 1900-1940. Vision for a New World’. Many visitors were attracted by the impressive names on display - Malevich, Kirchner – and special discoveries, including the oeuvre of Wenzel Hablik that was on display in the Netherlands for the first time ever and the unique expressionist body masks from Hamburg. The phenomenon of utopia reached far beyond the museum’s precincts.
Restoration of a medieval altar piece
In November, a crowd-funding project for the restoration of ‘The Crucifixion of Christ’, the 16th-century altar piece by Cornelis Engebrechtsz. proved to be very successful. A sum of 60.000 euros was raised with support from the Vriendenvereniging VBL; the other half will be funded by the museum.
Renovation & Expansion
In September, the talented architect teams HappelCornelisseVerhoeven (Rotterdam) and Julian Harrap Architects (London) were selected to execute the renovation and expansion of the museum. Next, in December, the plans and the structural design of the renovation and expansion were approved by Municipal Executive of Leiden. Now, the final step, the decision process of the City Council, will take place and its decision will be announced early in 2014.
2014 preview
Museum De Lakenhal presents a promising programme in 2014. The exhibition ‘Gerrit Dou. The Leiden Collection from New York’ will bring the largest private collection worldwide of works by Dou to Leiden in March: an unparalleled event. As from May, the museum will look back in grand style to seven centuries of Leiden cloth industry and will spur on this lively history in a new and contemporary manner. Besides, the museum will celebrate the anniversary of ‘375 years of ‘Laecken-Halle’ and 140 years of Museum De Lakenhal’ with a festival week in May. A new light will be shed on the museum’s private collection, as an exhibition will feature the personal selection of art critic and former museum director Rudi Fuchs from October.
Gerrit (Gerard) Dou
The exhibition ‘Gerrit Dou. The Leiden Collection from New York’ (9 March through 31 Aug 2014) will bring the largest private collection of works by the 17th-century Leiden painter Gerrit (Gerard) Dou to the Netherlands: an unparalleled novelty, as 'The Leiden Collection' was never before comprehensively on display to the public. The work of this first apprentice of Rembrandt mainly consists of portraits and genre paintings, executed in the minutely detailed style of the world-famous Leiden Fijnschilders (Finepainters).
Leiden Cloth
As from 2014, Museum De Lakenhal will reinvigorate the history of seven centuries of ‘Leiden Cloth’. The opening of an exhibition on ‘Seven Centuries of Cloth Industry’ highlights the start of a festival week from 1 through 8 May. That week will also see the presentation of a new work by Atelier Van Lieshout, which is inspired by this typical feature of Leiden’s history. Next, a game app will be launched on ‘How cloth disappeared from Leiden’ and a new fabric design by Christie van der Haak will be presented: the first in a series of five artists’ assignments that will result in a product line with the ancient hallmark ‘Leiden Cloth’ by 2017.
The selection of: Rudi Fuchs
At an early age, Rudi Fuchs, art critic and former museum director of both Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, has lost his heart to Museum De Lakenhal. In the fall of 2014 he will select his personal favourites from the museum’s collection.
Events
The new year boasts many activities, including the museum weekend in April, a festival week at the beginning of May focussing on Leiden Cloth and the Museumnacht Leiden on 17 May. On 20 September, the second edition of the festival Nacht van Kunst & Kennis will take place. This event is co-initiated and co-organised by Museum De Lakenhal in cooperation with Leiden’s Marketing en Cultuurfonds Leiden. Just like last year, Leiden’s partners of science and culture will all join forces to present a night full of cutting-edge experiments in the field of science, the arts and music to a wide audience. The weekend of 27-28 September will host the 20th edition of the Kunstroute Leiden and the museum will offer its traditional free admission to the public on 3 October during the celebration of Leiden’s Relief.