Fascinating exhibition in ,Helmond (Hellmouth),
proximity of Eindhoven, NL
This winter the castle of Helmond will treat its young visitors to a small but touching
exhibition of a choice diversity and a number of equally dissimilar editions of Dickens' works.
It is limited to the stories of Oliver, Scrooge and Copperfield, known as these are to the young
cliétele of this grim gothic castle, situated between a motorway and an industrial plant and
near the town center. This rectangular four tower fortress of intermediate size surrounded by a
moat lodges also a fairly large permanent exhibition of historical industrial machinery, telling
canvasses on industrial labour and a rich collection of prints on the same topic - not to
mention the city council which holds its lively debates in the great hall.
The Dickens exhibition is prepared with great love and calm devotion by a young educational
worker and official to the city council, who is herself an accomplished artist and who can
explain to you all you want to know about the art of illustration and about printing techniques,
and who answers to the name of Colette Vester.
In the footsteps of George Cruikshank, John Leech and "Phiz", will be parading Honor
C. Appleton, Fred Barnard, the dutchman Anton Pieck (once seen, you will never forget this
twentieth century nostalgic neo-Biedermeier artist), the celebrated german artist Doris
Eisenburger, Quentin Blake, Patrick Bensen, Alan Marks and a number of others (Rackam,
Brock, Keeping!).
Colette Vester pays tribute to the author whose sharp insight into the human soul discovered
the importance of intermittent "stills" for the keen perception of a story, one of the many
contributions Dickens made to the profession of fiction writing.
Paradoxally, it is demonstrated how for more than ane and a half century artists have been
challenged by Dickens' stories to surpass their growing number of predecessors in picturing
the crucial situation from exactly the right angle and charging the open space in the book with
the maximum of feeling.
The historical dimension is, more than the illustrations can tell, made apperent by means of the
different book editions. The different quality levels in which these were issued bear also
witness how Dickens was the author who managed to reach all layers of society telling one
and the same story to every class and to every single group, as if it were an old fairy tale or -
this for the readers abroad - a biblical story.
The exhibition, though commented in the dutch language and primarily directed to the local
teenagers, will make a quick visit to the castle the right thing to do when in the area.
It will be on view starting on November the 22nd, 1997, until March the 12th, 1998.
Leonard Jacobs, Haarlem Branch
