CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

NB The exhibition is extended until 10 January 2021

Eline Janssens, a modern day visual artist and exhibition maker, pays tribute to the seventeenth-century paper cutting artist Joanna Koerten, a celebrity in her time. For the exhibition in the Westfries Museum, Eline Janssens was inspired by the life and work of Joanna Koerten, and the paper cut art collection of the Westfries Museum. The life of Joanna Koerten is depicted by Eline Janssens in the form of a paper cut cabinet with a central role for a dollhouse and paper silhouettes.

Born and active in Amsterdam, Joanna Koerten (1650-1715) is considered the greatest paper cutting artist of her time. Koerten came from a wealthy entrepreneurial family, her father was a cloth merchant. Her husband, Adriaan Blok, was also a cloth merchant and had his shop located on the Nieuwendijk in Amsterdam. Joanna surrounded herself with art and became proficient in writing, watercolors, glass engraving and, above all, paper cutting. Her paper artworks received much praise, from friends artists but also of political figures from home and abroad. Even Peter the Great of Russia visited her studio to see her work with his own eyes.  Koerten made many portraits, still-lifes, biblical scenes, city-scapes, and allegories. Only fifteen of her works have been preserved, these are now preserved in museums and private collections.

For more information visit the website of the Westfries Museum.