Unique collaboration between two Dutch museums. The Bonnefanten is presenting a special exhibition entitled: 

Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit

Half a century of intense involvement with the avant-garde in the fields of art, furniture design and architecture 

13 March -17 June 2012 

In collaboration with the Kröller-Müller Museum 



Martin Visser (1922 Papendrecht -Bergeijk 2009) 

Martin Visser, renowned furniture designer and driving force behind the Visser collection, purchased his first work from Karel Appel in 1948. This purchase signalled the start of half a century of collecting cutting-edge art and maintaining intense engagement with artists, the art world and current developments in art.

Over the course of thirty years, Martin and his first wife Mia and brother Geertjan Visser acquired many works by now established names of the neo-avant-garde, at an early stage of their career, including Piero Manzoni, Christo, Ellsworth Kelly, Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Bruce Nauman, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Daniel Buren, Marcel Broodthaers, Hanne Darboven and Panamarenko. 

From the mid-seventies and after the death of Mia Visser (1977), Martin Visser and his second wife Joke Visser -van der Heijden focused on key figures of the postmodern era, such as A.R. Penck, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jenny Holzer, George Condo, Eugene Leroy and Daan van Golden. 

Alongside his extremely active role as a collector, Martin Visser was also a renowned furniture designer, known in particular for the famous sofa bed: BR02 from 1958-1960. He was also active in giving commissions. His house in Bergeijk, which has now been declared a listed building, was constructed in 1955 to a design by Gerrit Rietveld, and considerably extended in 1968 to a design by Aldo van Eyck.

Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit sketches a portrait of a fascinating figure, who maintained intense engagement throughout his life with pioneers from the world of art and culture. Martin Visser coupled vision with curiosity, and passion with daring, and thus succeeded in creating a meaningful relationship between visual art, design, architecture and lifestyle in Bergeijk. In this way, he created an inspiring Gesamtkunstwerk, as it were.

The exhibition 

In the exhibition, works from his collection, Visser's own furniture designs, and photos and models of the architecture of his home reflect Martin Visser's engagement with forty years of the avant-garde in art and culture. The arrangement of the exhibition is based on some of the pivotal pieces in the collection, starting in the fifties and early sixties with the key figures Karel Appel and Piero Manzoni. 

A highlight is formed by the collection of sculptures and works on paper by artists associated with American minimal art and European conceptual art. Many of these sculptures were produced in Bergeijk. Martin Visser's involvement with the creation process of minimal art works had a big influence on the Netherlands' exceptionally receptive attitude to the ideas of this international movement. 

The seventies, eighties and nineties are devoted to the return to mainly expressive paintings of both European and American origin, by A.R. Penck, Anselm Kiefer, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. 

An important place in the exhibition is given to the correspondence with artists dating from the sixties and seventies. Around a hundred archive items are exhibited in display cabinets. The letters and postcards from artists like Christo, Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria, Panamarenko and Joseph Beuys demonstrate their close involvement with the collector.

The exhibition includes:
-Over a hundred art works (paintings, sculpture, photography and works on paper)
-Works in situ by Daniel Buren, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long and Lawrence Weiner, conceived in the sixties and seventies especially for Visser's house in Bergeijk, will be executed again in the Bonnefanten.
-Eight important furniture designs by Martin Visser. 

Interior photos taken recently by Johannes Schwartz give an impression of how life amidst art, design and architecture can look. A specially created model gives insight into the extraordinary changes made to Gerrit Rietveld's original 1955 design by Aldo van Eyck.

Many of the artists represented in the Visser collection are also found in the collection of the Bonnefantenmuseum, e.g. Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Jan Dibbets, Sol LeWitt and Bruce Nauman.

In collaboration with the Kröller-Müller Museum 

This exhibition has been organized in close cooperation with the Kröller-Müller Museum, which has over 400 works under the name of 'Former Visser collection'. It is the museum's largest loan operation ever, with more than a hundred art works travelling to Maastricht. A selection of works from the private Visser collection is also on display, as well as eight pieces of furniture from various private collections in the Netherlands.
In the same period, the Kröller-Müller Museum will also be presenting works from the 'Former Visser collection' in the exhibition Desire for perfection (1 April -28 October 2012). It will include works by Jenny Holzer, Anselm Kiefer, Dan Flavin and A.R. Penck. 

Lecture / Public price

Two readings about the central themes of the exhibition will take place during the Museumweekend (14 & 15 april). And in collaboration with Spectrum Design, a public price will be organized in relation to Martin Visser's famous Sofa Bed BR02. 

Catalogue 

The catalogue is available from the Museum Shop, containing contributions from Evert van Straaten, Paula van den Bosch, Liz Kreijn, Carel Blotkamp, Paula Feldman Sankoff, Guus Vreeburg, Marijke Kuper, Francis Strauven, Kris Dittel and Johannes Schwartz.

The exhibition Martin Visser: collector, designer , free spirit will be held during TEFAF 2012. 



Download the press release as pdf here.


Make a note in your diary already: the press conference will take place in the Bonnefantenmuseum on Friday 9 March at 12:00.

NOTE FOR THE PRESS: If you require more information, please contact the press department (Tues-Fri), Avenue Céramique 250, Postbus 1735, 6201 BS Maastricht. Tel. +31 43 329 01 10, fax +31 43 329 01 99, Guillemette Naessens / Noortje Fischer: pressoffice@bonnefanten.nl 

For information about the Kröller-Müller Museum, please contact Sylvia Gentenaar: Tel +31 318 59 6152 or sylviagentenaar@kmm.nl Website: www.kmm.nl

Beeldmateriaal

lees de voorwaarden voordat u het beeldmateriaal download. Wij stellen het erg op prijs om een bewijsexemplaar van de publicatie te ontvangen!

	Martin Visser and Wim Beeren (l), with work by Sol LeWitt and Christo, from exh. cat.: Three Blind Mice. (© Van Abbemuseum / Photo: Claude Magelhaes, Brussels, Belgium)
	Sofa bed BR02, 1958-1960 (produced by Spectrum) - Photo Gert Jan van Rooij
	Martial Raysse, Make-up, 1962 - Visser collection – Photos Gert Jan van Rooij
	Daan van Golden, Heeren lux III, 2003 Visser collection – Photo Gert Jan van Rooij
	Daniel Buren, Papier collé blanc et vert, 1969 - Visser collection – Photo Gert Jan van Rooij
	Sol LeWitt, Buried Cube Containing an Object of Importance but Little Value, 1968 - Visser collection – Photos Gert Jan van Rooij
	Carl Andre, Henge on Threshold (Meditation on the year 1960), 1971- Collection Kröller-Müller Museum. Photo: Kröller-Müller Museum.
	Carl Andre, Copper Ribbon, 1969 Collection Kröller-Müller Museum. Photo: Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf