Lop Nor series, 2017/18
Haenen in her studio, Amsterdam
Babs Haenen (Dutch, b. 1948) is a ceramic artist living and working in Amsterdam. Haenen’s expressive sculptures in colored porcelain are informed by twentieth century abstract painting as well as elements from the natural world. Her richly pigmented painterly compositions on slabs of porcelain are alive with movement, granting equal importance to color, line, and form. Each composition is constructed from pieces of clay which are cut, folded, and stacked into three-dimensional forms. The resulting sculptures often resemble vessels or mountain peaks, rippling as though caught by eddies of water or carved by natural forces; they are always imbued with a turbulent, dynamic complexity.
Haenen first worked as a dancer before studying visual art at the Gerrit Rietvield Academy in Amsterdam. In 1987, Haenen was the recipient of an award from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB). She also received the 1991 INAX Design Prize for Europeans. Her work is in the permanent collection of many museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Stedelijk Museum, Frans Hals Museum Haarlem, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
BABS HAENEN
b. 1948, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
EDUCATION
1979 Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Porcelain Mountains, Kunstmuseum den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
2022 Taste Contemporary, The Solo Project Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium
2021 Pas de Deux, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
2020 Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, Van Achterbergh Prize exhibition, The Princessehof
National Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2018 Babs Haenen, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY (catalog)
En Route, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
The Frozen Fountain, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2017 En Route, Two Cities Gallery, Shanghai, China
The Silk Road, The Waterland Museum, Purmerend, The Netherlands
2015 Beijing Design Week with Ubi Gallery, Beijing, China
2014 Scholar’s Rock, Gallery VIVID, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2012 En Route, Gallery Van Krimpen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Babs Haenen, Frans Hals Museum—De Hallen, Haarlem, The Netherlands
Porselein, een huid van steen (Porcelain, a skin of stone), Haarlem, ABC Architecture
Center, Harlem, The Netherlands
2002 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1998 The Turbulent Vessel: Ceramics 1991–1998, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands (catalog)
1995 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1991 Hetjens Museum/Deutsches Ceramics Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany (catalog)
A Decade of Work, The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden, The
Netherlands (catalog)
1989 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
1984 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 On the Way to Porcelain Blue and White, Royal Delft Museum, Delft, The Netherlands
2023 Transformative Boundaries, Fabienne Levy Gallery & Taste Contemporary, Geneva,
Switzerland
Nature/Nurture, Anna House, East Hampton
In Residence III, Ting-Ying Gallery and Oliver Sears Gallery, London, UK
Netherlands-Korea Invitational Ceramic Exhibition, Seoul Cyber University, Seoul,
South Korea
The Value in Things, Ting-Ying Gallery, London, UK
2022 Hostler Burrows, Salon Art + Design, New York, NY
artgenève, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
Beneath the Surface: Origin Stories, Mills Station Art and Culture Center, Sacramento, CA
2021 Hostler Burrows, Salon Art + Design, New York, NY
Eye of the Collector, Ting-Ying Gallery, London, UK
This Is the Sound of C, CC Zwaneberg, Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium
International Art Fair for Contemporary Craft and Design, Ting-Ying Gallery, London, UK
Shapes from Out of Nowhere: Ceramics from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Viewing Room, Ting-Ying Gallery at the London Art Fair, London, UK
Crafting a Difference at Soshiro, Ting-Ying Gallery, London, UK
The Spirit of Ceramics: Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Biennale, New Art Museum
of Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen, China
2020 Time Suspended, Gallery Catherine Prevoust & Ting-Ying Gallery, London, UK
Collect 2020: International Art Fair for Contemporary Art and Design, Ting-Ying Gallery
at the Somerset House, London, UK
artgenève 2020, Gallery Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
Forest Primeval, Hostler Burrow Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Stillness and Movement, Taste Contemporary, Sotheby’s, Geneva, Switzerland
Blanc de Chine: A Continuous Conversation, The Victoria & Albert Museum,
London, UK
2019 Cool Clay: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Ceramics, The Crocker Art Museum,
Sacramento, CA
Entre eau et ciel: Amsterdam, Helene Aziza, Paris, France
TEFAF New York, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
FOG Design + Art Fair, Hostler Burrows, San Francisco, CA
Ghosts of Sunday Morning, Design Museum Den Bosch, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
2018 Design Miami, Hostler Burrows, Miami, FL
The Salon Art and Design, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
Rich-Z Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Made in Holland: 400 Year World Brand, Ceramic Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden,
The Netherlands
Show Yourself, Design Museum Den Bosch, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
2017 Hotel Panorama, PAN Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Change the System, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
International Ceramic Fair, Spherebol+, Flow collection, Jingdezhen, China
A City in Dialogue with the World, Jingdezhen, China
Classics Revived: International Contemporary Ceramics Design Invitational Exhibition,
Liling Ceramics Valley Museum, Liling, China
China Character, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands
The Dramatic Vessel, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural
Park, Shigaraki, Japan
Gallery VIVID at Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Vase: Function Reviewed, Farmleigh House and Estate, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Gallery VIVID at Design Miami, Miami, FL
The Mode: International Ceramics Arts Invitational Exhibition, Liling Ceramics Valley
Museum, Liling, China
Sexy Ceramics, Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden, The
Netherlands
Vase: Function Reviewed, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland
Artmonte-carlo Exhibition 2016, Taste Contemporary Craft, Monaco
Masterly: The Dutch in Milano, Palazzo Francesca Turati, Milan, Italy
Gallery VIVID for Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Artgenève 2016, Taste Contemporary Craft, Geneva, Switzerland
2015 Gallery VIVID for Pan Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Beautiful Object, AD Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Gallery VIVID for Design Miami, Miami, FL
World Tour Art Exhibition, Chinese National Treasure Museum of Arts, Beijing, China
New China from China: Ceramic Culture and Art Exhibition, KIP International Pavilion,
Expo Milano, Milan, Italy (catalog)
Gallery VIVID, Design Miami Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Kunst uit Huis, Collectie Wilploo (Art from Home: Wilploo Collection), Stedelijk
Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, The Netherlands (catalog)
Melancholia, Gallery VIVID, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam
Hostler Burrows at FOG Design+Art Fair, San Francisco, CA
2014 Clay! A Century of Ceramics at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Gemeentemuseum, The
Hague, The Netherlands
Europe and Beyond: 12 Artists in Clay, Peppercanister Gallery at Coach House Gallery,
Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland
Gallery VIVID for Design Miami/ Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Gallery VIVID for Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Six Women, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
2013 Minimentaal ll, Galerie Metis and Maria Chailloux, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Muzeum LeSecet Magyarorszag, Pecs, Hungary
Amsterdam, Kunst Rai, Kunstconsult, Zuid Oost Beemster
Amsterdam, Peter Rommers, IJ Catchers
Babs Haenen, Alexander Lichtveld
Salah-ad-Din: Mysterious Green, Ceramic Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The
Netherlands
Teachers and Students, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2012 Maskerade, Frans Halsmuseum De Hallen, Haarlem, The Netherlands (catalog)
Bloemen in het museum, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, The Netherlands
Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
(catalog)
2011 Temporary Stedelijk 2, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Modern Ceramics, Collection JWN van Achterbergh (catalog)
In der sparte porzellan, Kunsthaus Frankenthal, Frankenthal, Germany
Amsterdam, Rai Art Amsterdam, gallery van Krimpen
Rotterdam, Art Rotterdam, artfair, gallery van Krimpen
Made in China, Nederlandsche Bank, teachers and students, Ceramic Department Gerrit
Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Made in China, Ministry of Finance, The Hague, The Netherlands
2010 Kleikunst, Steengoed: Ceramics from the Collection of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen,
Rotterdam Kunsthalm, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Contemporary Glass and Ceramics, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
Gallery Van Krimpen for RAI Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
De kom, Cypres Gallery, Leuven, Belgium
2009 Nieuwe liefdes, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Form and Sculpture, Ministry of Finance, The Hague, The Netherlands
2008 XXth Century, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
Well-meaning Cultural Commodities, Barrett Marsden Gallery, London, UK
Top! Stukken: Hedendaagse Keramiek in Nederland (Top Pieces: Contemporary Dutch
Ceramics), Gorcumsmuseum, Gorinchem, The Netherlands
2007 European Triennale for Ceramics and Glass, Les Anciens Abattoirs, Mons, Belgium
(catalog)
25 years Binnen, Gallery Binnen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (catalog)
Pretty Dutch, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands (catalog)
2006 Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont, CA
2005 Organic Abstraction, Part 2: Homage to Ruth Duckworth, Garth Clark Gallery, New York,
NY
2004 Goudomrand: The Future Handmade, Nederlandsche Bank, teachers and students Ceramic
Department Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2003 Ceramics: Babs Haenen/Geert Lap, Frans Hals Museum De Hallen, Haarlem, The
Netherlands
Acquisitions, Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2002 New Collection, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan (catalog)
Allan Chasanoff Ceramic Collection, Mint Museum of Craft+ Design, Charlotte, NC (catalog)
Blue + White = Radical, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
2001 Dutch Contemporary Ceramics, Gallery Janet Mansfield, Sydney, Australia
1999 Collects, The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada
1994 Gallery Marijke Raaijmakers for the European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, The Netherlands
1993 The Inax Design Prize for Europeans 1st to 5th, Museum Tokoname, Tokoname, Japan
(catalog)
1992 Beyond Tradition, Contemporary Ceramics in the collection of the Museum Boijmans van
Beuningen Rotterdam, Institut Néerlandais, Paris, France (catalog)
1991 Recent Acquisitions, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
1988 Vice Versa, Musée Joseph Déchelette, Roanne, France (catalog)
1987 Holland in Form, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands (catalog)
1984 Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
AWARDS
2020 Van Achterbergh Prize
2012 Mondriaan Fund, Visual Arts and Cultural Heritage
2005 Nomination for the Dutch Ceramic Prize
2003 Fonds BKVB, the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design, and Architecture
1991 INAX Design Prize for Europeans, Japan
1990 Fonds BKVB, the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design, and Architecture
COLLECTIONS
AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Ceramic Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Consulate of the Netherlands, Chongqing, China
Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
Council-hall Municipal Dordrecht, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Beijing, China
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Eye Clinic Focus, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, The Netherlands
George R. Gardener Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada
Hague Municipal Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands
Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany
House corporationYmere, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
INAX Corporation, Tokoname, Japan
Koninklijke PTTNederland. NV, The Hague, The Netherlands
Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, Germany
Liling Ceramics Valley Museum, Liling, China
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands
Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Museum for Modern Art, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Ceramics Art, Gifu, Japan
Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
NV Airport Schiphol, Schiphol, The Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum's Hertogenbosch, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, The Netherlands
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
