Easter and oak trees by Bertien van Manen

‘….It is surprising to see how in essence all the qualities of her riper work are present in these family-snapshots: the lyrical looseness, the sensuality and the melancholy but also a feeling for balance and composition. They seem free, sturdy improvisations on themes, which later, in ‘A Hundred Summers a Hundred Winters’ or in ‘East Wind West Wind’ more outspokenly took shape. Of course especially the contactprints thanks to their grafic imperfections have the seductive aura of authenticity but much more interestitng is the search for form, however spontanuous and intimate the scenes may be. This is most explicitely visible in the attention for the pose. In a single case this is purposefully being created but more often it is very precisely being seen and captured in all its artless liveliness and almost painfull beauty.’

Hripsimé Visser

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