repeated this operation on grass. By moving the camera, or by taking a series of pictures in conditions of increasing or decreasing light intensity, or by shortening or lengthening the exposure time, the changes in the perception of the object resulting from the differences in light intensity become clear. The area of the concrete, square form becomes mingled in a series of constantly changing nuances with the photographicspatial illusion. A first series of mounted photographs, first in black-and-white, later in colour, was created, which reflected Dibbet's rational experiences with natural light. They form the beginning of a monumental book containing 132 reproductions, which illustrate the way in which Jan Dibbets, with an ever-increasing input of his personal vision, records and transforms nature.
The author Rudi Fuchs, director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and long a close friend of the artist, holds Dibbets in high esteem as a newcomer in the Dutch tradition of the still-life, a tradition stretching from the seventeenth-century painter Saenredam to the modern artist Mondrian. In the words of Fuchs, space is approached atmospherically in their work, and it is this which distinguishes it from the frontal approach of an artist such as Cézanne.
Saenredam, Mondrian and Dibbets work with transparent spaces, concentrating on light changes in the depths of the interior. Dibbets is undoubtedly aware of these characteristics and remains faithful to his concept.
The changes which he effects on different shapes and in different spaces are developed in series. They are supported in the book by art-historical quotations relating to art in general or to Dutch pictorial art in particular. Dibbets' work also fits in with these historical views. As a result, Interior Light is more than a book about Dibbets: it also gives an insight into pictorial art and offers a perspective on Dutch painting from the viewpoint of Dibbets and his ilk.
Jan Dibbets' approach is conceptual, individual and universal. The geometrical square on the concrete wall is gradually replaced by the window, the skylight and later the circular shape of church windows. Earthly light is now tending towards Godly light. At the same time, the individual presence increases: after the correction of the perspective in space and after the recording of the exposure time, the light colour is now also changed, and once again Dibbets uses an optical form distortion by tilting the window within an outline drawn on the coloured surface. The methodical continuity guarantees the natural order. A tension is created which is at the same time logical and alienating. The opposition between the artist who creates and who is thus in competition with the Heavenly creation, becomes tangible while remaining mysterious.
In this way, too, Dibbets' work is related to Dutch landscape, still-life and architectural painting. And this is no one-sided relationship. The later window pictures offer a prospect both of Heaven and of earthly nature, just as the early squares were drawn on the shadowy wall or on the grass. In this way the analyses gain a
higher level of intuition. The treatment of colour, light and space moves smoothly away from the cool abstraction of Saenredam and approaches the warmth of his contemporary Vermeer, who instils more emotion into his work. This intuitive quality also makes Dibbets' painting receptive to the tonalities of, for example, Mediterranean light. In another chapter Gloria Moure illustrates this rapprochement in Dibbets' distinctive work. His Barcelona windows form the majestic conclusion to a book which records Dibbets' work, his exhibitions and his bibliography in accordance with the views of his artistry, a view which is characterised by a constant striving for perfection.
erik slagter
Translated by Julian Ross.
Rudi Fuchs & Gloria Moure, Jan Dibbets. Interior Light - Works on Architecture 1969-1990. Benjamin & Partners, Groningen / Barcelona, 1991.