STARRED BY PAN AMSTERDAM: PIETER VAN OS
This year we’ve invited writer and journalist Pieter van Os to ‘star’ five works at the 37th edition of the PAN Amsterdam. He published many articles on the Dutch art world in daily newspaper NRC. He has published books including Tussen kunst & cash and Wij begrijpen elkaar uitstekend, reflecting on his years as a parliamentary reporter for NRC. His book Liever dier dan mens, a history from Central Europe, is the only book to have been awarded both the Brusse Prize for best journalistic book and the Libris History Prize.
“In the overwhelming amount of wonderful and beautifully disturbing works, I have found a few animals that captured my imagination. One in ceramics, one almost hidden in an expressionistic painting, one sculpted in metal, and another one more than 2200 years old, an object once used to take a real cat from Ptolemaic Egypt to the eternal afterlife. The decoration on the head of this little mummy mask is extremely simple, or effective, just like the little dots on the one fascinating, little drawing I selected.”
1. At Gallery Fleur & Wouter (stand G) Pieter selected an intriguing sculpture by Warre Mulder, Even in Your Warm Pyjamas, Nature Can Come To Take Its Share (2021). Pieter: “Take note of the feet coming from the beast’ mouth”.
2. At Gallery Richard ter Borg (stand 129) Pieter chose a painting by Johan Dijkstra, Landschap. “Born in Garnwerd, in the north of the province Groningen, I immediately recognised the atmosphere of this expressionistic landscape. It’s my childhood. And then, suddenly, I discovered this crazy big horse…”
3. At Antiques Emporium (stand F) Pieter selected Jugendstil tafellamp met lampenkap van Johann Loetz Witwe (circa 1908). “Jugendstil has the appearance of smoothness, maybe even of harmless decoration, but don’t be mistaken: this is a real venomous snake, and scary as hell as you really take the time to look at it.”
4. At Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg (stand 78) Pieter chose a small cartonnage mummy mask of a cat (late-Ptolemaic Period, 6th-3rd cent. BC). “Ever seen a completely soaked cat? The head really fitted in this little mask from Egypt. And look at the eyes… just a few strokes, but totally credible, instantly. That’s the highest form of art.”
5. At Ubbens Art (stand 98) Pieter chose a drawing by Theo Lohmann, De open deur (1916-1922). “A great work of a small master, as Job Ubbens says. This one is of such an extraordinarily beauty that it doesn’t even require an animal to get me excited.”
“In the overwhelming amount of wonderful and beautifully disturbing works, I have found a few animals that captured my imagination. One in ceramics, one almost hidden in an expressionistic painting, one sculpted in metal, and another one more than 2200 years old, an object once used to take a real cat from Ptolemaic Egypt to the eternal afterlife. The decoration on the head of this little mummy mask is extremely simple, or effective, just like the little dots on the one fascinating, little drawing I selected.”
1. At Gallery Fleur & Wouter (stand G) Pieter selected an intriguing sculpture by Warre Mulder, Even in Your Warm Pyjamas, Nature Can Come To Take Its Share (2021). Pieter: “Take note of the feet coming from the beast’ mouth”.
2. At Gallery Richard ter Borg (stand 129) Pieter chose a painting by Johan Dijkstra, Landschap. “Born in Garnwerd, in the north of the province Groningen, I immediately recognised the atmosphere of this expressionistic landscape. It’s my childhood. And then, suddenly, I discovered this crazy big horse…”
3. At Antiques Emporium (stand F) Pieter selected Jugendstil tafellamp met lampenkap van Johann Loetz Witwe (circa 1908). “Jugendstil has the appearance of smoothness, maybe even of harmless decoration, but don’t be mistaken: this is a real venomous snake, and scary as hell as you really take the time to look at it.”
4. At Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg (stand 78) Pieter chose a small cartonnage mummy mask of a cat (late-Ptolemaic Period, 6th-3rd cent. BC). “Ever seen a completely soaked cat? The head really fitted in this little mask from Egypt. And look at the eyes… just a few strokes, but totally credible, instantly. That’s the highest form of art.”
5. At Ubbens Art (stand 98) Pieter chose a drawing by Theo Lohmann, De open deur (1916-1922). “A great work of a small master, as Job Ubbens says. This one is of such an extraordinarily beauty that it doesn’t even require an animal to get me excited.”