Songs for soprano
etude #01
In the photo series Songs for soprano, etude #01, Jitske Schols makes an imaginary journey back to the 19th century and visits the estate of Ewijckshoeve in Lage Vuursche. Schols grew up at this estate which used to be the ‘country residence’ of the patrician family Witsen in the late nineteenth century. Their son Willem Witsen was a Dutch painter, etcher and photographer associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. Thanks to his generosity, Ewijckshoeve became a gathering place for writers, musicians and painters and formed the backdrop of the Tachtigers movement who proclaimed the principle of l’art pour l’art. Works of art originated here, can now be found in leading museums like the Rijksmuseum or the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
In Songs for soprano, etude #01 Schols is intrigued by the sister of Willem Witsen, Anna. Who was she? What moved her in life? What was her role and how can that be seen in the time in which she lived? In this quest, the photographer reflects her own life on that of a woman who lived a century earlier on the same spot on earth and by doing so she created an intuitive and personal document.