Symposium on historic paper cutting art

On Thursday 17 October 2024, de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Papierknipkunst organises a symposium in the auditorium of the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague on historical paper cutting in public and private collections and the current state of (art) historical research on this in the Netherlands. The symposium is aimed at (art) historians, collection managers, conservators, conservators, researchers, students, artists and designers. But of course members of the society are also welcome to attend.

In the Netherlands, paper cutting has been practised by people from all social classes for at least four centuries. Only a fraction of what has been made in that period has stood the test of time. It lies in museum depots or still hangs on the wall in private homes, hidden from the admiring eye of a wide audience. Through four lectures and presentations, the symposium will highlight this unknown but widely practised art form.

The programme includes the following speakers:

• Jan Peter Verhave, cutting art expert, collector and author of many articles on Dutch paper cutters and the standard works Jan de Prentenknipper (1993), Geknipt! (2008) and Het scherp van de snede (2023). He will paint a picture of exhibitions and collection building of clippings since 1945.
• Maja Houtman, president of the Dutch Society for Paper Cutting, will reflect on the creation and content of the website Knipperslexicon.nl.
  Tonnie Dieleman, researcher of the work of Jan Huijssoon, alias Jan the Print Cutter of Zeeland, talks about his life and significance.
• Prof Martha Peacock of Brigham Young University, Provo (UT, USA) will discuss her study of Johanna Koerten, the Netherlands' best-known cutter of the seventeenth century (in English).

The symposium is aimed at (art) historians, collection managers, conservators, conservators, researchers, students, artists and designers. Other interested parties are also welcome. The meeting can only be attended live and will not be streamed. Afterwards, a retrospective will be published in Knip-Pers magazine.

The symposium is free, registration is possible via the website of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Papierknipkunst. The symposium is mainly in Dutch.