Artist (un)known
- Erica Scheper
- Mar 15
- 2 min read
'A. van Gelderen' was on the back of one of the postcards in this painting 'Chain of Flowers'. ' Geranium, oil on canvas, reproduction prohibited' . That was all I knew about the artist. No idea whether it was a man or a woman, when it was painted and whether the artist is still alive. Most of the artists whose postcards I used for this painting were known to me, but I could not find any information about A. van Gelderen.
Last week I received an email from Agnes van Gelder who had seen my painting in the Museum Belvédère and recognized the painting of the geranium she had made on the postcard. She liked being placed next to Monet and Morandi. It also turned out that she had written a piece for the Museum Belvédère a few years ago, which was published at an exhibition about Morandi. That exhibition also featured works by Dutch artists who were inspired by him, including Agnes van Gelder with this painting. The piece was about fond memories of a teacher who had introduced her to Morandi and about the painting of the geranium, which she was initially unhappy with because it had unintentionally become a fake Morandi.
We discovered that the first printing of the postcard with her work had the correct information on the back, but that the cards that are now in circulation are no longer correct. The name is wrong and the dates have been omitted. Strange.
Agnes van Gelder's work appears to have a lot in common with mine; she also often places her subject in front of a patterned background, she also depicts paintings in her paintings and has also included postcards of artworks in her work. It appears once again that everything has been done before.
Well, that just happens to be the subject of 'Chain of Flowers'.
(I already wrote a blog about this painting entitled 'That's not original' ).
More work by Agnes van Gelder: https://www.hollandseaquarellistenkring.com/leden-1/leden-ag/agnes-van-gelder/
Chain of Flowers: The postcards show (from left to right) paintings by Jan Voerman, Jan Mankes, Georgio Morandi, Claude Monet, Agnes van Gelder, Abraham van Beieren, Jan Sluijters, Pablo Picasso and again Jan Sluijters. The title is taken from a song by Nick Cave & Grinderman.
