News — Mar 27, 2014

Amsterdam, March 27, 2014 — In the heart of the design circuit, the Stedelijk Museum will dedicate a presentation to Dutch National Opera (formerly De Nederlandse Opera), focusing on the work of two designers. From 1990 to 2014, graphic designer Lex Reitsma (1958) created the visual identity for Dutch National Opera. The Japanese designer Eiko Ishioka (1938-2012) designed the costumes for Wagner’s famous cycle of four epic operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen, performed by Dutch National Opera from 1997-2014.

Dutch National Ballet and De Nederlandse Opera began operating under the name Dutch National Opera & Ballet this year, from the company’s home base at National Opera & Ballet, the former Amsterdam Music Theatre.

The merger of these renowned Amsterdam cultural institutions also means that after 23 years, Lex Reitsma’s celebrated series of posters and program designs for Dutch National Opera, comes to an end. Reitsma’s work is represented in the graphic design collection of the Stedelijk Museum. He also works as a documentary filmmaker, making films about graphic designer Jan Bons (2008), Rietveld’s Chair (2011), The Style of the Stedelijk (2012) and the very recent The Gijs+Emmy Spectacle (2014), about an exhibition currently on show at the Stedelijk. 

Opera at the Stedelijk also includes the screening of two films made especially by Lex Reitsma for the occasion. One traces the collaboration between Pierre Audi and Eiko Ishioka; the other illuminates his own work for Dutch National Opera.

One of the most beloved and finest of Dutch National Opera productions was Wagner’s opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. Under the stage direction of Pierre Audi, this epic tetralogy culminated in February last year. George Tsypin created an astonishing décor, while the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra delivered superb performances under the baton of conductor Hartmut Haenchen.
Those who saw Der Ring will undoubtedly remember the dazzling costumes created for the production by Japanese designer Eiko Ishioka. The Stedelijk will present a selection of her most breathtaking costumes, accompanied by sketches and alongside posters designed by Ishioka. In the world of Japanese graphic design, Eiko Ishioka was the only woman at the top. A number of her poster designs are in the holdings of the Stedelijk.

Note for editors:
For more information and visual material, please contact Marie-José Raven and Annematt Ruseler, Stedelijk Museum Press Office on: +31 (0)20 – 573 26 56 / 60 or  pressoffice@stedelijk.nl. 

Press images Opera at the Stedelijk.