Exhibition inspires scholarships for Art History, Fine Arts

Exhibition inspires scholarships for Art History and Fine Arts students

An exhibition of digitally remastered paintings by the Dutch artist Rembrandt is the inspiration behind two scholarships to the Netherlands for university students to see the master’s original work first-hand.

The 57 digital reproductions of the 17th-century Old Master's works - entitled Rembrandt Remastered – opened at Smith and Caughey’s Queen Street store last week and will be on display until September 13th.

The exhibition has been brought to Auckland by Boyd Klap (CNZM, OON, QSO), president of the New Zealand Netherlands Foundation, who was astonished by the paintings when he saw them in Amsterdam about 18 months ago.

Rembrandt Remastered is part of a long-running Dutch project overseen by Professor Ernst van de Wetering and the Rembrandt Research Project to bring together all Rembrandt's 330 known paintings, the originals of which are spread across about 20 countries. Only 43 paintings are in the Netherlands, in eight museums in five different cities.

The exhibition has finished a successful exhibition in Wellington’s Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington. Over 9000 people visited the exhibition during its display between 5 June and July 5.

The two scholarships, sponsored by Boyd Klap, are valued at up to $3,000 each to cover KLM return flights from Auckland-Amsterdam and expenses during a one-week stay.

The successful students will be connected with curators and other museum professionals during their stay at the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, and other institutions.

Applicants must visit the exhibition in Auckland or Wellington and reflect on their engagement with Rembrandt’s artworks in a motivating 500-word letter.

Boyd Klap, along with Dr Erin Griffey, Head of Art History at The University of Auckland, will select the winning letters.

”I strongly encourage art history and fine art students to visit this exhibition and enter the competition,” Dr Griffey says.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to travel to the Netherlands and see the original Rembrandt paintings as well as a host of other artworks in person.”

The two scholarships are open to all currently enrolled university students in New Zealand studying Art History or Fine Art. Any level of study, from first-year through postgraduate will be considered.

Applicants must send their motivating letter, a copy of their academic transcript and their CV by 30 September 2015 to:

Erin Griffey
Head of Art History
18 Symonds Street
The University of Auckland
Auckland 1142

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