Now showing - Design Museum Huis Dedel

In the anti-war exhibition of the museum Dedel, you come across the artworks made at the beginning of the twentieth century that look like prophecies of upcoming disasters. And indeed end-of-the-world theories are part of our cultural background and can be found in any folklore and ancient traditions. The fear of an uncertain and unknown future drives the human mind to explain the unexplainable. As the human body goes through the cycle of life, the universe must dissolve and reemerge as well. The Mayan version of the world-end records a vast cosmic cycle that represents a world period of some thirty-four thousand years—twelve and a half million days—and these are recorded again and again. However, with the development of weapons of mass destruction mankind doesn’t need to wait for the end of the cosmic cycle anymore. During the twentieth century, the idea of the possible end of humankind was ever present in the public space all the way through the Cold War till 1991. Great deal of fear, tension, and anger were reflected in art pieces of the era. Our museum’s anti-war poster exhibition combines works of many politically involved artists, designers, and illustrators. They strived to appeal to the kind human hearts, to the best human qualities in an attempt to stop bloodshed from happening.

Maurits Escher himself tried his hand at commercial assignments in 1933, making designs for wrapping paper, but he never created a single poster. Instead, his great-nephew Gielijn Escher achieved incredible success in the realm of posters as his grandfather, Jac. Jongert did before him.

The distinctive feature of the work of the Escher family lies in illusion as a main visual method, and this is exactly what we are going to show in the exposition. The exhibition at the Design Museum Dedel will be the first to talk about Escher, not through the works of Maurits Escher, but through the lesser-known, but no less important, work of his family.

The viewer will also be amazed to see the unique works of graphic design by Maurits Escher’s teachers at the Haarlem School of Architecture like Karel de Bazel, which undoubtedly influenced the personal style of the young Maurits. Some woodcuts by the teacher who had the greatest influence on Escher - Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita - will also be presented.

However, we do not limit the exhibition project exclusively to the works of the Escher family, but also show the “graphic trickery” other designers used to play with the viewers minds.

With this exhibition, we aim to summarize the year 2023 as a year dedicated to the work of Maurits Escher, but also to open such questions as:

What actually is an illusion?
How does illusion work in art, and how does it work in advertising?
Why are visual illusions so popular in graphic design and how do they affect the viewer?

february 8 2023 until the end of 2024

Ukraine. People. Courage. Posters

Posters from Ukraine, 2022 as well as from the 1920’s. This exhibition is held to support the Ukrainian people. The posters from 2022 are for sale in a limited edition with proceeds going towards the artists (10%), the museum (25%) and Ukrainian War Relief (65%).
Free entrance for those holding a Ukrainian passport or ID card.21 May benefit auction of the posters.

Also showing from 15 February until 12 November 2023, “War to War. Posters for Peace 1912-2022”