New publication!

The exhibition “Between Heaven and War: Art and Religion in the Interbellum,” recently opened in Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, is accompanied by a beautiful book (in Dutch). I got to write two chapters for it.

One chapter about the Museum for New Religious Art that was founded in Utrecht in 1934. That museum is a predecessor of Museum Catharijneconvent and its collections have become part of the Catharijneconvent’s. The chapter explores how the museum was initiated, founded and how its collection got started. Notably, with many gifts from women artists – from the Netherlands and abroad.

The other chapter is about two jewish artists, Jacques Lipchitz and Moisej Kogan. It discusses some of their religious works and their life paths. Kogan’s humble yet intricate “Last Supper” relief is one of the last works in the exhibition. Made of concrete, this relief is more robust than it might appear at first glance. With the threat of war, Lipchitz got away to the US in time. Kogan did not. He was murdered in Auschwitz in February 1943.

I planned and co-edited the book together with Rozanne de Bruijne, curator at Museum Catharijneconvent. The book is published by Waanders Uitgevers and beautifully designed by Edwin van Gelder.

It is on sale in the Museum Catharijneconvent shop, bookstores across the Netherlands and online.