Interview with Particia Wessels (daughter) and Patricia Weiss (partner) about the late artist Fred Wessels, also known as Albert Jan, Ibrahim, Mark Wessels and F.G.J. Wessels. The interview is conducted to inform a conservation strategy for Wessels’ sculpture 'She’s like a Rainbow' from the collection of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands as part of student research during the training programme Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage in the specialisation Contemporary Art. The sculpture is an upright structure with mirrors and plexiglass twin wall panels that once contained coloured liquids, which have seeped away due to leakage. The interview sheds light on the artist's life, how he experienced the war, the sixties, his spiritual life, and his role in establishing cultural centers of Paradiso and De Kosmos in Amsterdam, his travels and live in Senegal and Indonesia, and his works of art, which he mostly sold, including to the BKR. For the Plexiglas works it appears that he was one of the first artists that collaborated with Eiso Bergsma.
a growing oral history collection to inform research in conservation, restoration and presentation of works of art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands and beyond. Generally conducted by conservation professionals, such interviews with artists, assistants, conservators, curators, collectors, designers and material specialists are made available, supported by the Interviews in Conservation Initiative. All interviews are audio or video recorded, fully transcribed, some annotated, and archived in the national archive for research material DANS. The interviews focus on art-making processes in relation to underlying ideas and the socio-cultural context as well as conservation approaches and cultures of conservation. The collection is ongoing and additions are welcome to build a rich collection of unique source material to help sustain our cultural heritage for future generations.
Interview conducted as part of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage programme at the University of Amsterdam.
