Margriet Smulders (born 17 July 1955) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

photographer of floral

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s. She attended the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...

from 1974 to 1983 and the Academy of Arts in Arnhem from 1979 to 1985.

Work

Smulders is best known for her self-portraits and photographs of her family. Her constructed portraits of domestic life were included in the exhibition ''Who's looking at the Family?'' at the

Barbican Art Gallery The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibi ...

, London in 1994. Like

Sally Mann Sally Mann HonFRPS (born Sally Turner Munger; May 1, 1951) is an American photographer who has made large format black and white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death. Early life and e ...

, she used her own family in this series. She specializes in portrait photography, mostly portraying family portraits and working people proud in their work and their relationships. She currently lives and works in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her works show influences of

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painting in their composition, use of light and color, and rendering of textures and surfaces. To achieve her photographic effects, she utilizes film rather than digital photography. Most of her works are titled mythological figures or dedicated to inspirational painters, enhancing the effect of alienation, while retaining a strong element of eroticism. Since 1999 when she saw an exhibition on voluptuous Dutch floral still-lives of the seventeenth century at the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, Amsterdam she has worked on an ongoing series of floral still life photographs. Her photographs of flowers are highly ambivalent. Inspired by the classical arrangements of the seventeenth century still lifes Smulders arranges theaters of flowers on big mirrors, using silk and inks which comment on beauty and decay. The flowers float and appear to be on the edge of disintegration

Publications

Publications by Smulders

*''Margriet Smulders fotografeert de Katholieke Universiteit in 75 Portretten.'' Uitgeverij Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen. With texts by Johan van de Woestijne, Flip Bool and Wim Bronzwaar. *''Sirene, Verlangen en verleiding = Siren, Desire and Seduction.'' Liempde: Kempen, 2002. Text by Pietje Tegenbosch. *''Get drunk.'' Self-published, 2006. With an essay by Robbert Roos and a preface by Danielle Lokin. *''Margriet Smulders.'' D'jonge Hond, 2010. With a preface by Frank van de Schoor and texts by Wouter Kloek, Marina Aarts, Laila Tijabi, Francis Wells, Marjoleine de Vos, Yvonne Benschop, Prakash Chhangani, Jan Derksen, Ellen Harris, Matthias Harder, Brigitte Lardinois, Matthijs Schouten, and Johan van de Woestijne. *''Holy Disorders.'' With a text by Cornel Bierens.

Publication with contribution by Smulders

*''What Makes Great Photography: 80 Masterpieces explained.'' Text by

Val Williams Val Williams is a British curator and author who has become an authority on British photography. She is the Professor of the History and Culture of Photography at the London College of Communication, part of the University of the Arts London, and ...

. Apple Press, 2012.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smulders, Margriet 1955 births Living people Dutch photographers Dutch women photographers People from Bussum Radboud University Nijmegen alumni