Key Works by Ad Dekkers and Bob Bonies
The Dordrechts Museum has recently acquired important works by Ad Dekkers (1938–1974) and Bob Bonies (1937). The works come from a private collection and mark a significant expansion of the museum’s collection. These key works add a previously underrepresented chapter to the collection: geometric abstraction. The works are now on view in a display on the museum’s Willaerts Wall.
The works by Dekkers and Bonies strengthen the collection’s representation of 20th-century art. The two artists are considered leading figures of the geometric-abstract movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and is characterized by clean forms and clear lines. As such, their work serves as a thematic counterpart to the more free, informal art that is already firmly established in the collection. Although Dekkers and Bonies build upon the legacy of De Stijl—the Dutch art movement that emerged in 1917—they each developed a visual language entirely their own, with a distinctive use of forms, colors, and materials.
Ad Dekkers’ work was donated to the museum by a private individual. The two works by Bob Bonies were acquired for the Dordrechts Museum by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands from the Van Bilderbeek-Lamaison Fund and loaned to the museum.
The new works will be on view on the Willaerts Wall through November 15, after which they will be included in the permanent collection display.
