Marlene Dumas
° 1953
Lives in Amsterdam (NL), born in Cape Town (ZA).
'I am an artist who uses second-hand images and first-hand emotions'. - Marlene Dumas, 1989
Marlene Dumas (°1953) grows up in Cape Town, South Africa under the apartheid regime, which continues to have a big influence on her critical thinking. She studies painting at the Cape Town Academy. The dark, figurative and worrisome works from that period are permeated by a sultry unrest. The censorship, however, starts to weigh on her and in 1976 she moves to Amsterdam, where she still lives today.
During the first years in Amsterdam she works mostly with paper, creating large drawings in pencil, ink or chalk, usually with text, sometimes with newspaper and magazine clippings. The paper is pasted, torn, mottled and scratched. Dumas brings together events from her own life and stories and images from movies and books, but she always allows the viewers to make their own interpretation.
The role of women is a central starting point in her work, ranging from the female nude, which has lost its meaning, to the naked woman who loses her senses. She paints many portraits, sometimes in soft colours, that present hard truths. A portraits of a child shows no laughing, rosy face, but an aged child with a stony look, full of knowing. Many faces cover her canvases, ranging from the mentally ill to female idols.
Dumas searches for a specific person, rather than the general, a person set in a specific time, rather than a symbol. Her paintings share the same qualities as the photographic source material: a directness, loss of details, overexposure, lack of sharpness and skewed proportions.
>Marlene Dumas, Marlene Dumas - Strips/No interviews please, 1987.Book, ink, paper, 31.2 x 22.6 cm, publisher : Stichting één op één, Amsterdam, nr. 4.
>Marlene Dumas, Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven / AMVK, Ria Pacquée, INDIVIDU : DUIDING. Verboden verbindingen + Twijfelachtige verbanden (Marlene Dumas, Christine & Irene Hohenbuchler, Annemie Van Kerckhoven, Ria Pacquée), 1991.Book, ink, paper, 42 x 29.8 cm, 31 p., language : Dutch, publisher : Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten/Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Antwerpen.
>Marlene Dumas, Sacrifice, 1993.Painting, oil, canvas, 70 x 90 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Magdalena (a painting needs a wall to object to), 1995.Painting, oil on canvas, 200 x 100 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Purple Pose, Pin-Up Series, 1996.Drawing, watercolour on paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Slight Delight, 1996.Drawing, aquarelle, paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Sailor's Dream, 1996.Drawing, watercolour, paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Mis-Cast, 1996.Drawing, aquarelle, paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Indian Summer, 1996.Drawing, aquarelle, paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Blind Joy, 1996.Drawing, aquarel on paper, 125 x 70 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Marlene Dumas 'MD', 1999.Book, ink, paper, 21 x 15.4 cm, 54 p., language : Dutch, English, Norwegian, publisher : Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen, ISBN : 90-72828-08-9.
>Marlene Dumas, Semite, 2004.Print, ink, paper, 35 x 45.5 cm.
>Marlene Dumas, Sacrifice (2), 2017.Painting, acrylic paint on canvas, Acrylic paint on canvas.
>Marlene Dumas, The Performer (Portrait of Romana Vrede), 2019.Painting, oil on canvas, 200 x 100 cm.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: AMBERES – Roberto Bolaño’s Antwerp. 07 June 2019 - 15 September 2019.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Geel – Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna. 15 September 2018 - 04 November 2018.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Genk - Genkenaren kiezen kunst. 02 July 2014 - 31 August 2014.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Herzele – Beyond words. 03 April 2015 - 03 May 2015.
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> Exhibition: Herita-project. 31 January 2014.
> Exhibition: Marlene Dumas – MD Paintings and Drawings. 12 September 1999 - 16 January 2000.
> Exhibition: Museum in Motion. 16 September 2022 - 08 January 2023.
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> Exhibition: Museum in Motion - Marlene Dumas. 16 September 2022 - 08 January 2023.
> Exhibition: Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque. 01 June 2018 - 16 September 2018.
> Exhibition: The Collection. 28 April 2017 - 31 December 2021.
> Exhibition: The collection I – Fall 2002. 31 August 2002 - 10 November 2002.
> Exhibition: The collection II – Winter 2002. 23 November 2002 - 09 February 2003.
> Exhibition: The collection XXXIII – The Collection as a Character. 07 June 2013 - 22 September 2013.
> Exhibition: The Situation is Fluid. 25 January 2025 - 03 January 2027.
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> Exhibition: This Is Us. 01 October 2023 - 18 February 2024.
> Exhibition: Urgent Conversations Athens - Antwerp. 31 October 2016 - 05 February 2017.
> Exhibition: When Faith Moves Mountains. 17 July 2022 - 09 October 2022.
> Exhibition: Worth Fighting For. 14 November 2022 - 14 December 2022.
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> Ensemble: An Architecture for Art - Marlene Dumas.
> Ensemble: Artist Books.
> Ensemble: beeld.
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> Ensemble: Catastrophe and The Relevance of Art.
> Ensemble: Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap.
> Ensemble: GEWELD | VIOLENCE.
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> Ensemble: ICC_Publications.
> Ensemble: internationaal & wereldwijd [international & worldwide].
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> Ensemble: kunstenaarsboeken uit de jaren '80 [artists' books from the 80s].
> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_PUBLICATIONS.
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> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.
> Ensemble: Middle Gate.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
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> Ensemble: Pin-Ups.
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> Ensemble: Secular Devotion.
> Ensemble: Worth Fighting For.