Madelon Vriesendorp (born 1945,

Bilthoven Bilthoven is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt. It has a railway station with connections to Utrecht, Amersfoort and Baarn. It is home to the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health a ...

) 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 ...

artist, painter, sculptor and art collector. She was married to

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

and best known as one of the co-founders of the

Office of Metropolitan Architecture The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international architectural firm with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. The firm is currently led by eight partners - Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van ...

(OMA) in the early 1970s (together with

and

Elia Zenghelis Elia Zenghelis (Born 1937, Athens, Greece) is a Greek architect and teacher. He studied architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, completing his studies in 1961. From 1961 to 1971 he worked for architects Dougla ...

and Zoe Zenghelis). Vriesendorp would often create visuals and graphics for OMA in the early years.

Biography

Madelon Vriesendorp was born 1945, Bilthoven, Netherlands. She attended

Rietveld Academy The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The academy was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History In 1924, the I ...

in Amsterdam in 1964. In 1969, she attended classes at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. For many years Vriesendorp contributed to Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) by providing graphics and illustrations for the publications of their theoretical concepts. Her painting "Flagrant Delit" (English: Flagrant Crime) (1978) is recognizable and was used as the cover image for ''

Delirious New York ''Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan'' is a 1978 book, written by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. The book serves as a ''retroactive manifesto'' for Manhattan between 1850 and 1960, analyzing the development of architecture a ...

'', written by Rem Koolhaas and first published in 1978. Flagrant Delit features the

Empire State building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

and the

Chrysler building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...

of New York City, post coitus in bed together while outside the window an armless version of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

looks sad. Vriesendorp noted that both buildings were built in the 1930s in New York City and were competing to be the tallest in the skyline, however the Empire State building appeared more masculine when compared to the Chrysler building. Koolhaas suggested she add in the

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

catching the two buildings in the act, as a reference to

Modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...

. Her largest artwork was a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

(1987–2015) on the stage tower of the

Netherlands Dance Theatre Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amste ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, however in 2015 the building and the mural was demolished. "The World of Madelon Vriesendorp: Paintings/Postcards/Objects/Games" was a 40-year retrospective exhibition of the artist's career, curated by

Shumon Basar Shumon Basar (born 15 October 1974) is a British writer, editor and curator. Life and education Basar was born in Pabna, Bangladesh, in 1974. His mother Dilruba Basar emigrated with him to the United Kingdom, to join his father, Abul Basar, who ...

and Stephan Trüby. It originated at the

Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...

, London in 2008, and then toured to Aedes, Berlin; the

Venice Biennale of Architecture Venice Biennale of Architecture (in Italian Mostra di Architettura di Venezia) is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. It was held on even years until 2018, but 202 ...

; and finally the

Swiss Architecture Museum The S AM Swiss Architecture Museum (german: S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum) is an architecture museum in Basel, Switzerland. Through its program of temporary exhibitions and events, it contributes to international debates on architecture ...

, Basel. It was accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, and had contributions from

Beatriz Colomina Beatriz Colomina (born 1952) is an architecture historian, theorist and curator. She is the founding director of the Program in Media and Modernity at Princeton University, the Howard Crosby Butler Professor of the History of Architecture and Direct ...

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

Hubert Damisch Hubert Damisch (28 April 1928 – 14 December 2017), was a French philosopher specialised in aesthetics and art history, and professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris from 1975 until 1996. Damisch studied at ...

, Teri -Damisch,

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

Charles Jencks Charles Alexander Jencks (21 June 1939 – 13 October 2019) was an American cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian, and co-founder of the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres. He published over thirty books and became famous i ...

, Charlie Koolhaas,

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

, Brett Steele and Fenna Haakma Wagenaar. In 2018, she was awarded the

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

, Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for her contributions to the architectural industry. Her acceptance speech for the award was political and talked about the "women written out of the script", because for many years Vriesendorps contributions to Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) were not acknowledged. Madelon Vriesendorp lives in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and has two children, Charlie Koolhaas, a photographer, and Tomas Koolhaas, a filmmaker. She was previously married to Rem Koolhaas, they divorced in 2012. Vriesendorp work is featured in various public art collections including

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MoMA), the FRAC Centre, among others.

Bibliography

*Rem Koolhaas, ''Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan'', first edition. Oxford University Press, 1978 *Shumon Basar, Stephan Trüby (eds.): ''The World of Madelon Vriesendorp'', Architectural Association Publications, London, 2008

References

External links

*
Madelon Vriesendorp, ''Flagrant Délit'' (1975) and ''Freud Unlimited'' (1976)

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between r ...

digitized items
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vriesendorp, Madelon 1945 births Living people 20th-century Dutch women artists 21st-century Dutch women artists Dutch women painters Dutch contemporary artists People from De Bilt Rem Koolhaas Gerrit Rietveld Academie alumni Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art