On Monday afternoon, May 9, the second edition of the Dutch edition of the coffee table book Nijenrode, Inspiration for Art was presented in the De Rooij building at Nyenrode. The subtitle of the book created by Art Fund Nyenrode is: The history of over seven centuries. Compared to the first edition of 2018, the book’s content has been completely revised and the number of pages has been increased by a third.
Ton Broeckx, President of Art Fund Nyenrode, welcomed a room of invited guests. He handed out the first copies to Petri Hofsté of the Nyenrode Foundation and Henk Kievit, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Governance & Stewardship at Nyenrode. Then the coordinator of the project, Pol Schevernels, talked more about the settings and the creation of the book.
Two works of art donated
The new edition includes two works of art that were presented to the Nyenrode Foundation during the book launch. These are Thin Line by the Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, a work that was donated by alumnus Felix Guttmann, initiator of the Amsterdam Light Festival. The Historische Kring Breukelen donated the painting Kasteel Nijenrode by Adrianus Zuiderwijk, which is also included in the book.
Art and governance
Dr. Cees Ullersma is a visiting scholar at Nyenrode's Center for Entrepreneurship, Governance & Stewardship and also works as the Department Head of financial stability at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). He spoke about the art of governance and the governance of art. The practice of governance is more art than science and can draw inspiration from art. At the same time, the world of art and culture could benefit more from insights gained from corporate governance literature.
Visiting the exhibition
After Ullersma's lecture there was time for some refreshments after which the guests could visit Out into the world, the sixteenth exhibition of Art Fund Nyenrode with works from the couple Henk de Heus and Victoria de Hues-Zomer’s private collection.
The completely revised coffee table book is available at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit Servicepoint or can be ordered online via the Art Fund Nyenrode website for €29.50 (incl. VAT but excl. shipping costs within the Netherlands).
To return to the tradition of former owner the castle and art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, Art Fund Nyenrode aims to bring high-level art back to Nyenrode. Goudstikker died in 1940 while fleeing from the Nazis, bringing an untimely end to his leading art collection, most of which ended up in the hands of Nazi leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring during World War II.
Art Fund Nyenrode was founded in 2015 by Nyenrode Business Universiteit alumni, and organizes, among other things, exhibitions featuring art from private and corporate art collections of Nyenrode alumni or art created by artists with a Nyenrode past.