Curator of Photographs receives Mr. K.J. Cath Award
At the opening of the Academic Year 2012-2013 Curator Maartje van den Heuvel was granted the Mr. K.J. Cath-prijs for her remarkable efforts in promoting the photographic collections of Leiden University and making them accessible to a large public.
- Four large exhibitions with Dutch museums
- Oldest and Most Complete Photo Collection
- Mr. K.J. Cath Award
Four large exhibitions with Dutch museums
Maartje van den Heuvel holding the Mr. K.J. Cath Award
Maartje van den Heuvel, who is Curator of Photographs at Leiden University since 2007, has brought the Leiden photographic collections under the attention of a large audience in four major exhibitions in collaboration with Dutch museums.
As a guest curator she has mounted the exhibition Zoet&Zout. Water en de Nederlanders, which shows the bond of the Dutch with water in some hundred and twenty works of art grouped in five themes: Struggle, Connection, Benefit, Pleasure and Myth. The exhibition could be visited from 14 February until 10 June 2012 in Kunsthal Rotterdam and was officially opened by H.R.H. Prince of Orange.
Working closely together with the Leiden Lakenhal Museum, in 2011, Van den Heuvel succeeded in interesting the renowned photographer Erwin Olaf to visualise the image of Relief of Leiden by applying new scientific data about the fight for independence obtained with 21st-century photographic techniques.
This resulted in a historical piece which is permanently exhibited at the Lakenhal Museum and eight portraits and still lifes which were acquired by Leiden University Libraries. The eight pieces were on exhibition in the library from 29 September 2011 until 8 Januari 2012.
The year before she organized a photo exhibition about picturalism in the Rembrandt House Amsterdam, where more than 100 items from Leiden University's Special Collections were displayed (1 April until 20 June 2010).
Earlier that same year Van den Heuvel organised a major exhibition in the Photo Museum The Hague, presenting the Leiden photographic collection as a whole in Photography! (23 January until 18 April 2010).
Oldest and Most Complete Photo Collection
The photo collection of Leiden University is one of the oldest and most complete photographic collections in the Netherlands. It constitutes a representation of the history, development and the various appearances of the medium. There are examples of nearly all photographic procedures, rare objects and artistic pinnacles. The goal of the collection is to record the history and different appearances of the medium since it came into existence in the 19th century.
In Digital Special Collections one can have a look at a plethora of digitised objects from the special photographic collection.
Mr. K.J. Cath Award
The Mr. K.J. Cath Award is granted every two years in recognition of a major contribution to enhancing the positive image of the University, and consists of a certificate and an amount of € 2.500,-. Both individual persons as well as groups may be nominated. The Board of Governors appoints a jury that decides who is to receive the award.
The Mr. K.J. Cath Award was established in 1988 at the departure of Mr. K.J. Cath as president of the Board of Governors. Normally the presentation of the award takes place at the opening of the academic year. In recent years the award went to students: in 2006 to the foundation RINO, a group of students who organise physics shows, in 2008 to the Wiskundemeisjes (‘Mathgirls’) and in 2010 to Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Leiden.