Adrienne (Adya) van Rees-Dutilh (1876-1959) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

textile artist, painter and graphic artist. She was part of the Dada movement in Zurich and was one of the early signatories of the first Berlin Dada manifesto.

Biography

Rees-Dutilh née Dutilh was born on 7 June 1876 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands. She studied drawing with

Barbara Elisabeth van Houten Barbara Elisabeth van Houten (8 April 1863 – 27 May 1950) was a Dutch painter. Biography Houten was born in Groningen and studied at the École du Louvre in Paris before finishing her studies under August Allebé at the Rijksacademie voor Bee ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and went on to study with

Ernest Blanc-Garin Ernest Blanc-Garin or Ernest-Stanislas Blanc-Garin (8 October 1843 – 1916) was a French painter. Blanc-Garin was born in Givet on 8 October 1843. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He trained many student in his w ...

at his workshop in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In 1909 she married fellow artist

Otto van Rees Otto van Rees (4 January 1823 – 10 March 1892) was a Dutch liberalism, liberal politician and the Colonial Governor of the Dutch East Indies. Van Rees was Minister of Colonial Affairs of the Netherlands in 1879. He was president of the House ...

with whom she had three children. The couple lived the Montmartre area of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

along with a group of artist known as

Bateau-Lavoir The Bateau-Lavoir ("Washhouse Boat") is the nickname of a building in the Montmartre district of the 18th arrondissement of Paris that is famous in art history as the residence and meeting place for a group of outstanding early 20th-century artist ...

. Around this time Rees-Dutilh began focusing on creating abstract tapestries and embroidery. Rees-Dutilh converted to Catholicism in 1914 and religion became a subject of her later art. She moved to Switzerland during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In November 1915 she and Otto participated in a

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

group exhibition at the ''Galerie Tanner'' in Zurich. Adya exhibited her embroidery. In 1918 she signed the ''Berlin Dada manifesto''. Rees-Dutilh moved to Paris and became involved with the art group

Cercle et Carré Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) was a group of abstract artists in Paris, founded 1929 by Joaquín Torres García and Michel Seuphor. The group published a journal with the same name. In 1930 they organised an exhibition in Paris showing 130 ...

(Circle and Square). By

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Rees-Dutilh was separated, but not divorced from Otto. She spent the war years in Switzerland where she concentrated on embroidering historic and religious subjects. She returned to the Netherlands in 1949. She lived with Otto in Utrecht until his death in 1957. Her eyesight had deteriorated and she was unable to work. Rees-Dutilh died on 11 October 1959 in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

References

External links

Example of Rees-Dutilh's embroidery
on RKD {{DEFAULTSORT:Rees-Dutilh, Adya Van 1876 births 1959 deaths Artists from Rotterdam Dutch women artists Dutch embroiderers Dada