photo: © Hans Withoos – Fight for Vulnerability, 2020
As part of the first major retrospective devoted to Dutch master painter Mathias Withoos, Museum Flehite in Amersfoort presented Another Light on Withoos – Three Generations of Withoos. The museum displayed ninety works by Mathias, his children, and contemporary photographer and descendant Hans Withoos.
The 17th-century painter Mathias Withoos is internationally known for the dramatic, Caravaggesque light in his expansive cityscapes and detailed still lifes. Mathias Withoos (Amersfoort, 1627–Hoorn, 1703) was Amersfoort’s best-known painter in the second half of the 17th century.
The exhibition presented a representative survey of the work of Mathias Withoos and his children who became painters. Forty photographic works by Hans Withoos entered into a dialogue with the paintings.
The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive monograph and catalogue raisonné compiled by guest curator and Mathias Withoos expert Albert Boersma. A catalogue of the photographic work of Hans Withoos was also published.
In the series Withoos Meets Withoos, The People, the photographer reinterprets the paintings of his distant ancestor Mathias, adding people and life. He combines still lifes and cityscapes with contemporary, surreal images, casting transience in a different light. Diversity and inclusion play a prominent role in his colorful work. Fabrics he designed especially for the series are based on works by his ancestors and incorporated into the models’ clothing.
Hans Withoos (Son en Breugel, 1962) studied textile design and photography at the Academy for Visual Education in Tilburg. He has worked as a photographer for more than thirty years and has exhibited widely and internationally.
The visual artist is a romantic and storyteller with a deep fascination for beauty in all its forms. His photographic tableaux convey an uncanny aesthetic.
Another Light on Withoos – Three Generations of Withoos
December 12, 2021–May 8, 2022
Museum Flehite
