Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands — Northwestern Europe

Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands - Visuele Etnografie / Visual Ethnography

— Leiden Discoveries —

Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, July 24, 2022

1. Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands - Visuele Etnografie / Visual Ethnography Marker

Inscription. Click to hear the inscription.

Westerse kunst draait om kunstenaars: om mensen als Rembrandt, Picasso, of Van Gogh. Bij kunst van niet-westerse afkomst dacht men tot de jaren zestig van de vorige eeuw echter dat individuele kunstenaars minder belangrijk-waren. De kunst werd dan vooral beschouwd als product van een (vaak kleine) inheemse groep. Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands, verbonden aan het Museum Volkenkunde waarop u hier uitkijkt, toonde aan dat ook daar grote variatie bestaat tussen individuele makers.

Gerbrands' meest productieve periode lag tussen 1960 en 1970. Op basis van veldwerk bij de Asmat Papua's produceerde hij zijn beroemde film Matjemos, over een individuele houtsnijder. Bovendien publiceerde hij het boek Wow-ipits over de Asmat kunst. De verzamelde voorwerpen worden tentoongesteld in het Museum voor Volkenkunde.

Western art is all about the artist: people like Rembrandt, Picasso or Van Gogh. In terms of non-Western art, however, until the 1960s people thought that the artists were far less important. Art was primarily seen as the product of an (often small) indigenous group. However,

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Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands, affiliated with the National Museum of Ethnology, which you are now facing, showed that in this type of art, too, there is great variation among individual artists.

Gerbrands' most productive period was between 1960 and 1970. Using his fieldwork among the Asmat Papuas, he produced his famous film Matjemos, about an individual woodcarver, and published his book Wow-ipits on Asmat art. The many objects collected by Gerbrands are on display in the National Museum of Ethnology.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Arts, Letters, Music.

Location. 52° 9.838′ N, 4° 29.042′ E. Marker is in Leiden, Zuid-Holland (South Holland). Marker is at the intersection of Morssingel and Stationsweg, on the right when traveling south on Morssingel. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Leiden, Zuid-Holland 2312 BS, Netherlands. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Volkenkunde / Ethnology (within shouting distance of this marker); De Stijl en Leiden / ‘De Stijl’ and Leiden (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Park de Put (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Oost-Indiëstrijders Monument / Dutch East Indies War Memorial (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Molen De Put / Put’s Mill

Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands - Visuele Etnografie / Visual Ethnography Marker - wide view image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, July 24, 2022

2. Adriaan Alexander Gerbrands - Visuele Etnografie / Visual Ethnography Marker - wide view

The marker is visible here between the lightpole (with a man sitting on it??) and the tree.

(approx. 0.3 kilometers away); De Stad Groeit / The City Grows (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Sint Stevenshofje of Convent van Tetterode / St. Stevens Almshouse of the Conveyance of Tetterode (approx. 0.4 kilometers away); Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens (approx. half a kilometer away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Leiden.

Also see . . . Celebrating the memory of Prof. dr. Adriaan Gerbrands (Leiden Unniversity).

Excerpt: "...Adriaan Gerbrands (1917-1997), museum curator (1947-1966) and professor of cultural anthropology (1966-1987) at Leiden University. Gerbrands was a pioneer in combining ethnographic film and material culture studies in order to translate cultural differences in aesthetic production; as early as the 1960s, he pointed out the theoretical and practical challenges emerging from the overlap between these fields. Gerbrands held a chair at the Leiden Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, was deputy director of the National Museum of Ethnology, and an early advocate of ethnographic film in the Netherlands."

(Submitted on August 3, 2022.)

Credits. This page was last revised on December 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 3, 2022, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 77 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on August 3, 2022, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.