In 1896, the Dutch artist Marius Bauer was present at the crowning of Tsar Nicolas II. Bauer was appointed to the festivities as a correspondent for the magazine De Kroniek (The Chronicle), where he enthusiastically reported the festivities. Back in Holland, he used his sketches and notes for a unique series of watercolours and etches, which will be shown for the first time at the place where they were originally drawn up. The exhibition contains ca. 20 paintings, 20 watercolours and 30 etches, medals, books, magazines, photo’s and letters.
But this exhibition wants to be more: to show the full extent of the artist that is Marius Bauer. He was an orientalist, refined watercolourist and a gifted graphic artist, whose etches reminds one of the great Dutch Masters of the 17th century – Rembrandt in particular springs to mind.
Bauer was born in The Hague in 1867. At the age of only twelve years old, he got into the Haagsche Academie. However, being disappointed with the education, he left the academy without finishing the exams. Despite this, he was handed a ‘grant’ by King Willem III, which enabled him to live and work without a worry in the world for two years. The rest of his life he knew this financial freedom as well, being permanently sponsored by the Hague art dealer E.J. van Wisselingh.
The >Bauer Documentatie Stichting and the Foundation for Cultural Inventory are working together on the realization of this plan. The festivities in Moscow on the occasion of the Russian-Dutch Year of Friendship, 2013, will start with the opening of this extraordinary exhibition.