AMSTERDAM.- New stories about abstraction, spirituality, and women in art. The Stedelijk has redesigned its presentation of art from 1950 to 1980 to feature works unseen for decades paired with new acquisitions making their debut. In Everyday, Someday and Other Stories the museum empowers and shares underrepresented stories by combining familiar and lesser-known works from the collection.

WOMEN MAKERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The presentation opens with a room dedicated to feminist art that delves into themes such as freedom, power, and the female body. In Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants), 1972, a young Ana Mendieta challenges notions of gender by gluing a fellow student’s beard onto her own face. In the same room, the monumental work Vêtement Noir (Black Garment), 1968, by Magdalena Abakanowicz has returned following her major solo show at Tate Modern. Flanking these pieces are works by Lee Bontecou, Nan Hoover, VALIE EXPORT, and Martha Rosler.

In a rehang of the American Abstract Expressionism presentation, Helen Frankenthaler and her circle take center stage. With the recently donated Beach Scene,1961, she is shown in the company of artists with whom she shared a close connection. She exhibited with Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell (her spouse) and Willem de Kooning, while her revolutionary ‘soak-stain’ technique inspired young painters like Morris Louis.

OTHER SOURCES OF ABSTRACTION

Abstraction was a popular art form in the 1960s; artists in Western Europe and the US expanded on concepts stemming from De Stijl and Russian Constructivism. Elsewhere in the world, there were different sources of inspiration. Raja Babu Sharma worked in the visual tradition of tantra, an ancient Indian philosophy focused on spiritual growth. Chavalit Soemprungsuk sought inspiration in decorative patterns from his native Thailand. In her geometric wall sculpture, the Japanese artist Naomi Kobayashi infuses the red threads with a tranquil, almost meditative quality through the taut composition and fluid movement. In Italy, Claudio Parmiggiani took an absurd and performative approach to abstraction: he transformed three-dimensional geometric shapes into wild animals like a tiger, a giraffe, and a snake, and sent them on a voyage in a flimsy boat.
SPIRITUAL WORLDS

As a counterbalance to abstraction, one gallery presents work by artists who, in their paintings and sculptures, depict rituals, myths, and spiritual experiences. They tell stories that emanate from different cultures, sometimes passed down through the generations. In all these works, the body plays a central role. Some artworks address sexuality and resistance to strict religious teachings. Landscape also takes on a spiritual meaning, as a locus of memories and rituals. Featuring works by Armand Baag, Winfred Dania, Ron Flu, Julio Galán, Ed Hart, Bhupen Khakhar, Felix de Rooy, Martin Saldana, Nova Sling, and Shinkichi Tajiri.

THE BEGINNINGS OF COMPUTER ART

In the early 1960s, works emerged in which machines - such as Jean Tinguely’s drawing machine and the kinetic abstract art of Gerhard von Graevenitz - took over the role of the artist. This kinetic art paved the way for the first computer-generated art of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Artists applied techniques that are no longer used today, such as plotter printers and punch cards. In addition to the work of Peter Struycken, a pioneer in the Netherlands, the exhibition highlights work by artists including Nam June Paik, Peter Laurens Mol, Lillian Schwartz, Alison Knowles, James Tenney, Manfred Mohr, Charles Mattox, and Jesus Rafael Soto.

THE ARTIST AS FARMER

In the 1970s, artists sought a deeper connection with everyday life and nature. Their conceptual or ‘idea art’ often originated in rural areas. As a farmer in Groningen, Hans de Vries documented everyday natural phenomena; Dennis Oppenheim photographed the shapes he sowed into a large tract of agricultural land in Finsterwolde. At a time when communist state farms were driving out small-scale agriculture, Ana Lupas - together with Romanian farmers - paid tribute to ordinary country life. In the Spook-bel (1963), Jerzy Bereś made a sculpture that resembles a farming tool.

ALSO ON SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME

In a room that focuses on new materials, like Bruce Nauman’s neon sculptures and Richard Tuttle’s textile pieces, all of Hetty Huisman’s three-dimensional ceramic works in the collection are on view for the first time since 1968.

Also making its exhibition debut is the recently donated Untitled (Flower Work) by Bas Jan Ader - a key work created in 1974 - in which he captures simple actions in a series of color photographs (removing flowers from a vase and (re)arranging them in primary colors). In a display case exploring hybrid masculinity, a major gift of works by Wally Stevens is on view, in which he photographed himself in various roles. For Stevens, just as for Ulay and Pierre Molinier, also on display in this gallery, masculinity was not a clearly defined concept.

AND BACK AFTER A LONG ABSENCE...

…is the work of Wim T. Schippers. In addition to three wall pieces from his Fluxus period, the display also features Van Oekel’s Discohoek, the Dutch TV show from 1974 to 75: a parody of typical pop music shows, in the chaotic and absurd style that defines Schippers’ work.