Museum Beelden aan Zee

Partner Museum of the "Blickachsen 8" exhibition

 

The first open-air exhibition of modern sculpture was organised in London’s Battersea Park in 1948. This initiative was imitated a year later in Arnhem (Sonsbeek ’49) and in 1950 in Antwerp (Middelheim). Since then exhibiting monumental modern sculpture in the open air has become a familiar phenomenon that has spread from Europe across the globe. Blickachsen gives a special twist to this tradition because of the unique historical location in which it takes place.

It is a great honour for museum Beelden aan Zee to be able to contribute to the selection of Blickachsen 8.  Characteristic of the international collection of modern and contemporary sculpture that museum Beelden aan Zee has administered since its opening in 1994 is that it aims to document the fascinating developments in this discipline as broadly as possible. This diversity expresses itself in the manner in which well-known and unknown artists, young and old, from all parts of the world, employ the most wide-ranging materials, techniques, styles and approaches to create sculptural objects.

It is this remit, which stems directly from the collecting policy of the founders of Beelden aan Zee, Theo and Lida Scholten, that has governed the selection for Blickachsen 8. The twenty sculptors represent no fewer than ten different countries and three continents. Naturally, this edition of Blickachsen will have a slight Dutch accent. Museum Beelden aan Zee has a close connection with most of the selected artists because they have exhibited at the museum or are represented in its collection.

Sculpture underwent radical changes in the first decades of the twentieth century. Since that time it is undeniably the medium of sculpture that has continued to innovate in the most revolutionary fashion. Blickachsen 8 will be proof of this.

Jan Teeuwisse
Director of Museum Beelden aan Zee

Museum Beelden aan Zee
Harteveltstraat 1
2586 EL The Hague
The Netherlands
www.beeldenaanzee.nl