GDM MAGAZINE / DUTCH COLLECTION / BY ESTHER CLEVEN
DUTCH COLLECTION More than half the objects in the permanent exhibition about a century of graphic design in the Netherlands 100 Years of Dutch Graphic Design has been recently replaced.
New to the exhibition are designs by Gerd Arntz, Jac. Jongert, Louis Kalff, Jan van Krimpen, Anton Kurvers, Jan Lavies, Ootje Oxenaar, Paul Schuitema, Johann von Stein, Peter Struyken, Karel Suyling and Piet Zwart. Since the opening of the museum in June 2008, this is the third, and until now most extensive change.
for its permanent exhibition. For the exhibition, the Graphic Design Museum has entered into loan agreements with around twenty institutions, including museums, archives and libraries. An equal number of private collectors and companies were prepared to add several objects from their collection to our selection from the Dutch Collection.
100 Years of Dutch Graphic Design is a permanent exhibition in which components are replaced every three to four months. Approximately half the objects on show are from collections that are seldom if ever exhibited. With this unusual, dynamic set up for the exhibition the Graphic Design Museum achieves its aims to make hidden treasures from the ‘Dutch Collection’ visible, to place them in a broader frame and so present to a broader public the multifaceted face of graphic design. The term ‘Dutch Collection’ refers to all collections in public Dutch ownership and was introduced in the 1990 policy memo Choosing for Quality. It is the first time that a museum has made such intensive use of the ‘Dutch Collection’
In addition, since 2001, there has been intensive collaboration with the foundations Het ReclameArsenaal and the Dutch Archive Graphic Designers (NAGO) both of which work for the preservation and administration of the graphic design heritage. New is the development of ‘Partnerships’ with heritage institutions that have very special sub collections in the field of graphic design. In this way, the Graphic Design Museum can count on the long-term expertise of and cooperation with, for example, Museum Meermanno in The Hague and the Money Museum in Utrecht.
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