News — May 10, 2011

Featuring works by Atelier van Lieshout, Isa Genzken, Joseph Grigely, Rachel Harrison, Arnoud Holleman, Klaas Kloosterboer, Dana Lixenberg, Pieter Laurens Mol, Falke Pisano, Yutaka Sone, JCJ Vanderheyden and Eric Wesley

Opens to the public on Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Stedelijk Museum proudly presents selections from the recent gift of 63 artworks from Dutch collector Maurice van Valen, spanning a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, video, photography and works on paper by Dutch and international artists. The exhibition is presented in four galleries as part of the ground floor installation of Temporary Stedelijk 2.

The Van Valen gift complements and builds on the representation of several artists in the Stedelijk Museum collection. Atelier van Lieshout’s table with six chairs and a bench, accompanied by a sitting and standing AVL Man, for example, lend extraordinary depth to the existing holdings by Atelier Van Lieshout. Works on paper by Pieter Laurens Mol, JCJ Vanderheyden, Arnoud Holleman and Klaas Kloosterboer also enhance those already represented in the collection, as do works by leading international figures such as Isa Genzken and Rachel Harrison. Also notable are larger bodies of work by Los Angeles-based artists Yutaka Sone and Eric Wesley, both new to the museum’s collection. Japanese-born Sone is represented by the playful sculpture Snowman in Surprise Box (2004), accompanied by works on paper that include Amsterdam Snowflake #1, #2 and #3, partly created in Amsterdam. A generous selection of 19 works on paper, a video and an installation by young multimedia artist Eric Wesley are informed by his fascination and unease with the American way of life.

Maurice van Valen (b. 1971) is an Amsterdam-based lawyer who has also lived in New York, Los Angeles and London. His passion for collecting began in his youth; since then he has assembled a rich and diverse collection of contemporary art. Van Valen’s recent return to the Netherlands, roughly coinciding with the appointment of Ann Goldstein as director of the Stedelijk Museum, inspired him to make the donation.