User:Frankbezemer

Margriet Smulders

Margriet Smulders (born July 13, 1955) is a Dutch fine art photographer.

Biography

Smulders was born in Bussum, The Netherlands. She attended the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1974 to 1983 and the Artez-academy in Arnhem from 1979 to 1985. She currently lives and works in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Work Margriet Smulders was 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, London in 1994. Like Sally Mann she featured her own family in this series. She specializes in portrait photography, mostly portraying family portraits and working people proud in heir work ans their relationships.

Since 1999 when she saw an exhibition on voluptuous Dutch floral still lives of the seventeenth century at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, since that time she has worked on an ongoing series of floral still life photographs. Like the works of other contemporary Dutch photographers, such as Rineke Dijkstra, Desiree Dolron, and Carla van den Puttelaar her works show influences of Dutch Golden Age painting in their composition, use of light and color, and rendering of textures and surfaces. 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. Her photographs of flowers are highly ambivalent. Inspired by the classical arrangements of the seventeenth century still lifes Margriet 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 desintegration. Bibliography

2002 Sirene 2006 Get Drunk  Essay of Robbert Roos and introduction of Danielle Lokin 2010 Margriet Smulders 25 years of artistic career   Ellen Harris,Matthias Harder,Francis Wells and seven more authors 2012 What Makes Great Photography Val Williams,80 Masterpieces explained, Apple Press.

Official site