Art Zuiderzee Hints

Artist in Residence Spaander Volendam

Sanne Rous

Hotel Spaander Volendam

3 till 14 October 2022

Sanne Rous

Kousen en prinswerk

Paint on old paper

2022

Sanne Rous Photo: Marianne Jonkman

'Sanne Rous about her AiR Spaander:

‘A few thoughts on my work for the Spaander Collection ...

The work I responded to hangs in the breakfast room of Hotel Spaander. It was painted by Adri Bleijs (1877 – 1964) who lived in Volendam from 1922 until his death and made many paintings of Volendam and its people there.

In the painting we see a simple woman from Volendam. She looks directly at you with a penetrating, but friendly look. Unlike most paintings in the Spaander Collection, she does not wear the traditional shroud. We see her depicted with a simple black undercap (which ensured that the hul stayed in place and contrasted nicely). In everyday life it was common for women not to wear the hul; much too vulnerable in bad weather and dirty work. Without the hul, this woman seems just a little more accessible, she does not disappear behind that anonymous 'traditional picture' of traditional Volendam costume.

Sanne Rous Scheepjeswol

From the black undercap I went looking for other items of clothing that do not immediately catch the eye. Via the archive of the Zuiderzeemuseum I ended up with the stockings. There is something tragic about these intriguing forms; they look like a shed second skin; they now lie aimlessly in a museum. When I started painting the stockings with watercolour, they quickly reminded me of eels. I thought that actually gave a very nice picture of what it is like to try to form a picture of history. History is also difficult to grasp, things lose their shape and slip through your hands so that they will be forgotten and eventually disappear.

Incidentally, not a single fish still life occurs in the Spaander collection; remarkable for a village on the water. My work will indirectly be the first.

I thought it would be nice to paint the stockings on old paper so that a trace of time can also be felt in them. I had brought some old paper with me, but I thought it would be better to use paper that came from Volendam. In the thrift store I finally found suitable paper that I tore out of old books. The frame is also second-hand. At first I thought of list as I use it more often for my work; with that sleek wood and anti-reflective glass, but that turned out not to be feasible in terms of price. In the end, that's a good thing, because this fits much better with the work and with the rest of the collection.

Sanne Rous Socks

In addition to the two socks, at the bottom of the page is the motif that I discovered on the rudder blades of some botters. This so-called 'prince work' consists of triangles, a symbol that goes back to the time of the Germans. It represents the rising, the highest position and the setting of the sun. This sign was later adopted by the Christian faith. The triangles used to be painted on the ships in white and red colors. Later the color blue was added as a sign of patriotism.

I really wanted to connect the stockings with the boots, because in my mind they have come together. Through the darned stockings, which are also called meshes, the fishing nets began to belong to the world of stockings. A mesh is the opening of the threads of a fishing net and a knitting stitch, but also a forgotten word for wound and scar. I don't expect people to be able to pick this out by seeing the work, but there's a bit of mystery to me; something to chew on.’

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