Wall Text · Introduction
I have curated 28 exhibitions over 13 years, most of them on postwar European abstraction and its correspondence networks. I edited 2 catalogue raisonnés and led the acquisition of 90 works for two public collections. I still write every object label myself, at 60 words or fewer, because the label is where a museum either respects the visitor or loses them.
Exhibited Works
Room I · Professional Appointments
CAT. 1
Senior Curator, Modern Art 2019–present
Curatorial practice on institutional scale, Muzeum Aan Zee, The Hague
Team of 6 · annual programme of 4 exhibitions
- Curated 11 exhibitions including Silent Geometries (2023), 214,000 visitors, the museum's second-highest attendance on record
- Directed acquisition of 54 works, among them 3 major color-field canvases secured under the estimate at auction
- Completed the catalogue raisonné of painter Aldert Cruyssen: 412 entries, 2 volumes, published 2024
Collection: Muzeum Aan Zee, The Hague
CAT. 2
Curator of Collections 2015–2019
Collection research and display, Fondation Merel, Brussels
Permanent collection of 3,800 objects
- Rehung the permanent galleries across 14 rooms; average visit length rose from 41 to 58 minutes
- Curated 9 exhibitions, including 2 touring shows seen at 5 partner venues
- Acquired 36 works on paper and negotiated 4 long-term loans from private estates
Collection: Fondation Merel, Brussels
CAT. 3
Assistant Curator 2013–2015
Exhibition research, loans administration, label writing, Galerie Hondsrug, Groningen
2 years · 8 exhibitions supported
- Researched provenance for 260 loan objects with zero contested claims
- Wrote 340 object labels and 12 didactic panels for 8 exhibitions
Collection: Galerie Hondsrug, Groningen
Selected Exhibitions Curated
Room II · A partial checklist
CAT. 4
Silent Geometries: Abstraction After 1958 2023
87 works · 23 lenders · fully illustrated catalogue, 288 pp.
Muzeum Aan Zee, The Hague · 214,000 visitors
Reviewed in 14 publications; catalogue reprinted twice
CAT. 5
Letters in the Margin: Painters and Their Correspondence 2021
62 works and 140 archival documents · digitisation of 1,100 letters
Muzeum Aan Zee, The Hague · toured to 2 venues
Archive now publicly searchable at archief.example.com
CAT. 6
Cruyssen: The Coastal Years 2017
45 paintings · first monographic survey in 30 years
Fondation Merel, Brussels · 96,000 visitors
Companion to catalogue raisonné vol. 1, edited by J. Caulfield