Golden Age of Dutch Graphic Design

The title ‘The Golden Age of Dutch Graphic Design’ draws a parallel with that other Dutch Golden Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Common to both is the significance of advancement and quality, but above all the central importance of freedom and tolerance. René Descartes wrote that only in the Dutch Republic people could enjoy ‘complete freedom’. Indeed, books were published in Amsterdam that were banned elsewhere in Europe. In this exhibition, this culture of tolerance is closely bound up with the freedom of graphic designers. Inspired, perhaps even driven, by a period of progress and destruction, they sought new forms for printed communications. Within barely a hundred years they produced an experimental body of work that has lasting consequences for current practice. We fully expect that the inventive work of these designers will still manage to amaze you today. But above all we hope that this exhibition will give you a contagious sense of freedom.

Dingeman Kuilman
Managing Director Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion

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