SmithDavidson Gallery congratulates Marie Cecile Thijs on being awarded Dutch Artist of The Year 2024
Dutch photographer Marie Cecile Thijs has been elected Dutch Artist of the Year 2024. Every year Stichting Kunstweek organizes the Artist of the Year election. Due to the large-scale design of the election, it contributes to the fame of visual arts in general and the fame of Dutch visual artists in particular. The election also provides a snapshot of the appreciation of Dutch artists.
Influences reminiscent of the 17th century Old Masters are recurrent in Marie Cecile Thijs's work, simultaneously however her personal interpretation is completely contemporary. Thijs plays with her subjects by bringing them to life unexpectedly, or – on the contrary – freezing them in time and space. Objects become characters. They move away from their daily destination, assuming a completely new personality. This provides intriguing creations, where tranquility, motion and sometimes also humor meet. In the works of Marie Cecile Thijs the unusual is usual. She is specialized in staged photography, and created series like White Collar, Food Portraits, Amazones, Horses, Flowers, Birds & Vases, Majestic and Human Angels. She has also taken many portraits of writers, cooks, politicians, designers and artists.
Multiple series by Marie Cecile Thijs have been published in several media, most notably Het Financieele Dagblad and French newspaper Le Monde. Her work has been included in the collections of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego, the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and many public and private art collections.
