This spring, Museum van Bommel van Dam will present an exhibition and accompanying publication on the fascinating life story and multifaceted work of the forgotten artist and gallery owner Giselle Kuster (Venlo, 1911 – Heerlen, 1972). In doing so, the museum in Venlo is playing a driving role in reassessing a progressive female artist. In addition to works from the museum collection, the presentation will also feature, among other things, ‘missing’ paintings and designs found by the museum through a call to people at home. The exhibition will moreover include art by famous contemporaries and sources of inspiration such as Charley Toorop, Jan Sluijters and Otto van Rees, placing Kuster’s work in a national context. ‘Her paintings could be found in art shops in the ‘40s and ‘50s alongside paintings by Toorop and Bart van der Leck, and her works sold for the same price as those of Sluijters. Kuster has so far not received the attention she deserves,’ curator James Hannan concludes.

Onbegrensd – Het leven and werk van Giselle Kuster (Unbounded – The life and work of Giselle Kuster) will be on display at museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo from 22 March to 17 August 2025. The publication of the same name, designed by Dana Dijkgraaf and published by Jap Sam Books, includes contributions by Madeleijn van den Nieuwenhuizen and Pauline Broekema, among others.

Searched for and found

Giselle Kuster’s name recognition is still relatively poor, but as it turns out, there were already many in the Netherlands who appreciated her works that were not included in museum van Bommel van Dam’s collection. In early November, the museum for modern and contemporary art initiated a search for missing paintings through a targeted poster, flyer and social media campaign. In view of the exhibition and publication, the staff wanted to map out Kuster’s oeuvre. Following archival research, the suspicion emerged that around a hundred works of art might be in circulation. ‘The campaign was many times more successful than we had dared hope. We have already located around 125 privately-owned works of art,’ Hannan shares enthusiastically. Thanks to the search, the museum was even able to find paintings the team had not known existed – from the earliest-known painting by the then 17-year-old Kuster to a massive work that was barely saved from being scrapped. Hannan: ‘An incredible enrichment of the research. We had always suspected and heard that she was a very versatile artist. We have now been able to confirm that with our own eyes. Kuster had made many styles her own: from Expressionism to Cubism. An artistic and technical jack-of-all-trades.’

Reassessment of a female artist

But why, then, was this artist forgotten? This was previously attributed to Kuster’s variation in styles and subjects. In the publication accompanying the most recent exhibition of her work in museum van Bommel van Dam in 1997, it was stated that the artist would without a doubt have grown into one of Limburg’s more well-known artists if she had focused on a single discipline, such as portraiture.

According to Hannan, this could hardly be the only reason for her lack of fame: ‘Artists such as Pablo Picasso are admired specifically because of their strong urge to experiment and their mastery of various styles and subjects.’ The curator believes there is a different underlying reason. Kuster’s most active years as an artist and cultural entrepreneur were during the German occupation and the post- WWII reconstruction. During this period, museums barely had the budget to purchase contemporary art. ‘They preferred to spend this on art by established names. These were often men, because women had not been granted the same opportunities to become artists or successfully seek the limelight.’ With the discovered oeuvre of Kuster, museum van Bommel van Dam is, after all this time, finally putting one of the most talented and liberated female artists of Limburg in the limelight.

Way ahead of her time

Giselle Kuster was born in Venlo in 1911. She grew up surrounded by fabrics, yarns and buttons in her parents’ clothes shop with ancillary atelier. She was no stranger to creativity. In 1934, at an exhibition in Florence, she won a prize for her serene painting of the Holy Virgin Mary. It was only later that year that Kuster began an art programme at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Liége in Liége, Belgium. In addition to being a virtuoso, she was also a cultural entrepreneur. During the Second World War, Kuster moved to Leiden, where she opened a celebrated gallery for contemporary art – quite a challenge during the German occupation. Nevertheless, she was able to organise exhibitions with works by artists including Charley Toorop, Jan Sluijters, Otto van Rees and even Vincent van Gogh. After the Second World War, she spent a brief time in Indonesia during the Indonesian War of Independence. In 1950, Kuster returned to the Netherlands, where she focused all of her attention on the Leiden art world.

She became chair of the Leiden artists’ association Ars Aemula Naturae and participated in many exhibitions. ‘In addition to her work as an artist, Kuster took on an important and very active role as driver of the cultural sector, in a time when this was made very difficult by the societal context. She brought the work of previously unknown artists into the limelight and connected artists with relevant networks,’ explains Rieke Righolt, director of museum van Bommel van Dam. From the late 1950s, Kuster lived and worked in Maastricht, but she spent a lot of time each year on the Spanish island Formentera. Whereas her environment and style were constantly in flux, artistic and personal freedom remained a common thread throughout her life as an artist. Kuster’s life provides insight into a period of social change when it was not the norm for a woman to have her own career.