Born in 1922 in Budapest to a family of antique dealers, Perlman relocated to Rotterdam with her husband as a teenager, before her life was dramatically altered as the Second World War took Europe in its clutches. Perlman was forced to flee Europe to the Dutch island of Curaçao in the Caribbean in order to narrowly escape Nazi persecution, where she remained for forty years.
Bank Holiday at St. James' Park, 2005, oil on canvas, 106.5 x 122
The narrative of this major exhibition - which is split into the three major periods of her career - begins in the rich, vibrancy of this island, where Perlman devotedly rendered the locals and their lush landscape between 1941 and 1969. The next tier of work dates from her time spent in the US in the sixties and seventies, and the last from London, where she settled from 1990 until present day, and has painted extensively.
The loudness of colour and form is a thread that runs continuously through Perlman’s work, traceable from her initial paintings of Curaçao. Perlman endows London with a similar visual intensity, where the quaint picnic blankets of English parks and corners of Covent Garden are rendered with a similar vigour and vitality as her early works of the Caribbean - an exciting feat for the capital and one that all Londoners will enjoy.
Self-portrait, 2002, oil on board, 61 x 48.8
Highlights of the exhibition will include a nostalgic ‘Bank Holiday in St James’s Park’, from 2005, a work described by art historian and author Philip Vann as ‘a multitude of figures - including a young skateboarder, a balloon seller and hip young lovers (one playing a cello) - in a teeming yet harmonious composition, evoking a gracefully informal Arcadia,’ as well as the weighty ‘Curaçao Male’ portrait, which won the 1971 Prix de la France Afrique of the Grand Palais in Paris.
The Dutch Centre welcomes the public to view the exhibition for free, excluding private events which can be found online.
| What | Suzanne Perlman: Catching the Ephemeral |
| Where | Dutch Centre, 7 Austin Friars, London, EC2N 2HA | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Liverpool Street (underground) |
| When |
12 May 18 – 31 Aug 18, Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1pm-5pm |
| Price | £Free |
| Website | Click here for more details |
