Harmony and simplicity: aesthetics of display of the Royal Asian Art Society’s collection

Abstract

The Museum for Asian Art, based on the collection of the Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands (KVVAK), opened in the Garden Hall (Tuinzaal) on the ground floor of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 1932. After years of negotiations, in 1952 the Society’s collection was integrated into the Rijksmuseum and displayed in the Drucker Wing. This article explores how the display aesthetics of the Society’s founder and curator, Herman Visser (1890-1965), are reflected in the presentation strategies of the Museum for Asian art in both the Garden Hall and the Drucker Wing. Notably, Visser’s taste in display, which emphasized visual harmony and a simple atmosphere, is also reflected in the Society’s current home in the Asian Pavilion, an annex of the Rijksmuseum that opened in 2013.