PAST EXHIBITION

Other histories told by Dirkje Kuik and Philipp Gufler

In a compact new duo-exhibition, Centraal Museum Utrecht presents a selection of works by Dirkje Kuik and Philipp Gufler.

Other Histories Told by Dirkje Kuik and Philipp Gufler shows a wide range of drawings, etchings, lithographs and paintings by Dirkje Kuik, often featuring the city of Utrecht. Centraal Museum further commissioned the artist Philipp Gufler (Augsburg, 1989) to create a Quilt – a screen-printed cloth – depicting the life of Dirkje Kuik. The Quilt forms part of a series in which Gufler pays tribute to artists, writers, a LHBTQI+ magazine and no longer existing queer hangouts. These Quilts, too, will be on display in the exhibition. Other Histories Told By Dirkje Kuik and Philipp Gufler opens 18 January, as part of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of COC Midden-Nederland, the LHBTQI+ advocacy group.

Dirkje Kuik
Dirkje Kuik lived and worked in Utrecht her entire life. Kuik’s work is suffused with a longing for the past. The city of Utrecht underwent rapid modernisation in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but Kuik preferred to see an old city, and created this in her own work. She liked to live in this romantic, decaying city – and not in a city half razed to enable modernisation. Kuik was well-read and an award-winning writer of novels and essays, for instance winning the Multatuli prize. In 1960 she joined J.H. Moesman (1909-1988) and Henc van Maarseveen (1926-2012) in establishing the graphic society De Luis. Dirkje Kuik was a pivotal figure in the Utrecht art world.

Philipp Gufler
Kuik’s work is juxtaposed with Quilts made by artist Philipp Gufler. In this series of works, Gufler depicts artists, writers, a LHBTQI+ magazine and once-upon-a-time queer hangouts. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Wies Smals and the magazine Die Freundin are among the themes and persons featured. This way, Gufler pays tribute to this alternative history, presented in the different layers of his Quilts. The themes explored are closely related to Gufler’s personal life and artistic practice.

The exhibition is on display from January 18th until May 3d.