Het Grote Aanschouwboek

On saturday December 2 Het Grote Aanschouwboek (The Big Aanschouwbook) was presented, a survey of 22 years of De Aanschouw in the Witte de Withstreet in Rotterdam. De Aanschouw is the smallest art gallery in Rotterdam and in The Netherlands if I am not mistaken. It used to be a display case on the front of a café, De Schouw, which was situated opposite the building in which De Rotterdamse Courant had it’s offices. As soon as the newspaper went to the printer it was put in the display case and the editors went to De Schouw to have a beer and to discuss the contents of the new edition.

The presentation of Het Grote Aanschouwboek took place in a well filled auditorium in TENT, you can see an account of the happening here! The book shows all the exhibitions and artists, weekly changes and the Overschilderschilderijen (overpaintpaintings) of which documentation is still available. We are happy to say that very few is missing. Edo Dijksterhuis wrote a history of De Aanschouw and collected anecdotes can be found in the back of the book. The participation of EX-MÊKH can also be found including a poster of underground member Ben Faydherbe who is responsible for the design of our publicity. An overpaint-painting of EX-MÊKH member Kees Koomen can also be found in the book. The graphic Design of bureau 75B is special for a relatively small book with no less than 1150 pages. It developed into a brickstone-account of a period of art and friendship!