MARCELLE HANSELAAR
EXHIBITION DATES : In person and online from 10/2– 25/3/23
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INTRODUCTION :
Anima Mundi are delighted to present ‘Rebel Women from the Apocrypha’, a solo exhibition which features a new series of prints from Marcelle Hanselaar shown in its entirety and runs concurrently to her central participation in 'Bearing Witness? Violence and Trauma on Paper’ at The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge alongside Francisco Goya, Otto Dix, Leo Haas, Jean Rustin, Chapman Brothers, Jane Joseph, Eduard Manet, Pablo Picasso and Judy Watson.
ONLINE CATALOGUE :
“I initially learnt about these feisty heroines from early paintings and began researching their stories out of curiosity. Not only are these women early feminists, standing up to male domination, but what is so fascinating is the illogicality of these texts. They read like the uttering of an oracle and have, throughout time, been open to many interpretations. I have given my own, contemporary take as these themes are as relevant as ever. Assertiveness in women is still often criticised or curtailed and I feel that these ancient, imaginary narratives give us a much-needed energising subversiveness.”
EXHIBITION ARTWORKS :
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EXHIBITION INSTALL IMAGES :
BIOGRAPHY :
Marcelle Hanselaar was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Growing up in the formal atmosphere of a protestant, postwar country, proved, thanks to her drop-out/turn-on rebellion, a profound source of inspiration for the recurring subject matter in Hanselaar’s work; namely the fierce and sometimes troubled cohabitation with those raw desires, secret fantasies and uncultivated instincts and our functioning in a civil society. Although Hanselaar studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, her lust for adventure, guided by a quest for self-discovery, led her to years of travel, until, in the early 1980’s she settled down in her studio in London where she still lives. Self-taught, she started out as an abstract painter before turning to figuration. At the same time she became fascinated by etching, its harsh, bitten line seemed to perfectly suit her subject matter. As an artist Hanselaar looks for ways to express those illusive questions of who and what we are when the mask is off, and how we appear when the mask is on. The shock effect of her work lies in the contrast of combining her outspoken subject matter with the conventional medium of oil painting or etching. Both her paintings and her prints display her delight and fascination with theatrical illusions and although often peppered with a biting sense of humour, the works reveals her own vibrant understanding of human nature, in all its animosity and fragility.
Hanselaar has exhibited her paintings and prints internationally, and can be found in private and public collections worldwide including British Museum Prints Collection, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Print Collection, New York; V & A Prints & Drawings Collection, London; V & A National Art Library, London; Whithworth Art Gallery and Museum; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Clifford Chance Art Collection, London; The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, London; Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, US; University of Arizona, Tucson, US; Sakimi Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan; Guandong Fine Art Museum, Guandong, China; Iraq National Library, Baghdad; Meermanno Museum-House of the Book, The Hague; Soho House Amsterdam; AMC, Amsterdam; Amsterdam Arts Council; Kunstcollectie; Gemeente Haaksbergen, NL; University of Aberystwyth Print Collection, Wales; New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge; Clare Hall, Cambridge; The Ned, London; Rabo Bank, London; Merrill Lynch, London; Risk Publications, London; Mitsukoshi Ltd., London and Paintings in Hospitals, London.
