Löwenhardts in the Arts: since its inception this family history project has sought the collaboration of artists in visualizing the family past… and future. To date this has resulted in seven works of art by four Dutch visual artists: Emo Verkerk, Gerard Polhuis, Marjolein Rothman and Jasper Hagenaar. In chronological order these are
Emo Verkerk: Double portrait of Remke and Tobias Löwenhardt, 2009
Emo Verkerk, 2009
Remke (2006) and Tobias (2008) carry the Löwenhardt family name into the future. This double-double portrait was painted by the Dutch artist Emo Verkerk. It has been exhibited as part of the Emo Verkerk solo exhibition at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (near Gent, Belgium), April-June 2010.
> Oil on canvas with painted plastic plate, 70x90x6 cm. and 70×80 cm.
Gerard Polhuis: Theresienstadt Memorial, 2011
Columbarium, Theresienstadt
On 30 May 2011 a memorial plaque for ten members of the Löwenhardt family was unveiled in the Theresienstadt Columbarium, Terezin, Czech Republic. All ten had passed through Theresienstadt ghetto on their way to the death camps. The plaque was designed by Amsterdam artist Gerard Polhuis based on a concept by John Löwenhardt. The outlines of the plaque are taken from the matseewa (gravestone) of Pauline Löwenhardt-Lennhoff in the Jewish cemetery of Dortmund-Wambel, Germany. She was the mother of Hugo, Adolf and Siegmund Löwenhardt, grandmother of Ursula and Klara and great-grandmother of Kurt.
> American maple wood, lasered.
Marjolein Rothman: Images of Kurt Ikenberg, 2011-2012
Marjolein Rothman, 2011.
Kurt Ikenberg was born and raised in Westerbork transit camp in The Netherlands and murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau at the age of three. There is no known image of Kurt. The Amsterdam artist Marjolein Rothman created three paper cuts depicting Kurt’s steps towards independence from his mother Klara Ikenberg-Löwenhardt. Kurt-I has been shown at the In Memoriam exhibition at the Amsterdam City Archives, February-May 2012. Kurt-I and Kurt-II formed part of an exhibition of eight women artists at Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam February-April 2012.
> Kurt-I, Kurt-II and Kurt-III, papercuts #3, 48 x 36 cm.
Jasper Hagenaar: The Search, 2013
Visit the websites of the artists: Jasper Hagenaar | Gerard Polhuis | Marjolein Rothman | Emo Verkerk
Co-curator in this project is Art Consultancy Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem, The Netherlands
