The impressive Willet-Holthuysen House is located in the center of Amsterdam. This double mansion on Herengracht street contains many stylish rooms. The house is named after the couple who lived here in the late 19th century: Abraham Willet and Louisa Holthuysen. They collected a large amount of art and objects and designed the interior according to their own taste. Even then, this beauty was seen as a reminder of a romantic past. The interior was the couple’s way of sharing their taste and wealth with others. The magnificent salons are styled in the Louis XVI fashion, and the garden is symmetrically laid out as a French formal garden. In these romantic rooms, the Amsterdam Museum organizes exhibitions featuring contemporary artists and collectors.
This year, ANOHNI, the associate artist of the Holland Festival, presents a multimedia exhibition in Huis Willet-Holthuysen titled “SHE WHO SAW BEAUTIFUL THINGS.” ANOHNI honors her former collaborator, Dr. Julia Yasuda, with a series of portraits. The photographs, taken by Julia’s late spouse Erika Yasuda, were captured in Tokyo in the early 1980s and are exhibited here for the first time. In Huis Willet-Holthuysen, ANOHNI combines photos, screen-printed fabrics, sculptures, videos, sound, and paintings from her own artistic practice with a selection of Erika Yasuda’s exceptional portraits. The works reflect a delicately composed vision of enlightened femininity and lush androgyny that perseveres in memory despite historical and ongoing existential threats.
