Hildegard Velde

Frieda Van Dun is a visionary artist known for her abstract works exploring identity, nature, and human connection, offering deep emotional and artistic expression through bold forms. Text in English and Dutch. Frieda Van Dun is a visionary artist whose work combines vivid color, dynamic forms, and emotional depth. Known for her unique approach to abstraction, Van Dun explores themes of identity, nature, and human connection. This monograph offers a comprehensive look at her compelling career, highlighting key works that reflect her evolving style and profound artistic expression. Through her bold use of materials and textures, Van Dun's art invites viewers into a world of introspection and transformation, establishing her as a significant figure in contemporary art. With text contributions by Hildegard Van de Velde, Ernest Van Buynder, Paul Huvenne etc. Text in English and Dutch.

Paintings featuring harpsichords, virginals and organs offer us a glimpse of gorgeous interiors, amorous scenes and finely-dressed ladies - and the occasional young man too - at the keyboard. Keyboard instruments can also be the key to decoding an allegory, myth or hidden message in a painting. This exhibition catalogue showcases a collection of such paintings and also includes painted harpsichord and virginal lids as well as original instruments. Loans from the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Suermondt-Ludwigmuseum in Aachen and many other museums and collectors offer a delight for eyes and ears. Featured artists include Frans Floris, Jacob Jordaens, Maerten de Vos, the Francken family, Jan Miense Molenaer, Jan Steen, Gerard Dou, Gabriël Metsu en Jacob Ochtervelt.

Men in stately black, women with huge ruffs, children with golden rattles, old women with wizened faces, and self-satisfied artists... These are the main players in just about every portrait ever painted in the Southern Netherlands. From the15th to the 17th centuries, the tract of land that we today call Flanders was the economic, cultural, intellectual and financial heart of Europe. And money flows - with everyone who could afford it investing in a portrait. Today, these cherished status symbols of the past have largely lost their original significance. But beyond their functional and emotional aspects, these portraits turn their subjects into gateways to the past. This book takes masterpieces from the collection of The Phoebus Foundation and outlines the broad context in which they came into being, peeling back levels of meaning like the layers of an onion. Whether captured in an impressive Rubens or Van Dyck, or an intimate portrait by a forgotten artist, the persons portrayed were once flesh and blood, each with their own peculiarities, hidden agendas and ambitions. Some portraits are very personal and hyper-individual. Others are a little dusty, the ladies and gentleman being children of their time. In most cases, however, their dreams and aspirations are surprisingly timeless and soberingly recognisable. The Bold and the Beautiful is an appointment with history: a meeting through portraiture with men and women from bygone centuries. But for those willing to look closely, the border between the present and the past is paper-thin. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Blind Date. Portretten met blikken en blozen, Autumn 2020, in Snijders&Rockoxhuis Antwerp, curated by Dr. Katharina Van Cauteren & Hildegard Van de Velde with a scenography by Walter Van Beirendonck.