OPENING OF THE 2009 ALTERNATING EXHIBITION AT THE DUTCH POULTRY MUSEUM By: Dirk de Jong

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1 OPENING OF THE 2009 ALTERNATING EXHIBITION AT THE DUTCH POULTRY MUSEUM By: Dirk de Jong Beside the standard exhibition the Poultry Museum in Barneveld (NL) has an alternating exhibition which changes every year. In 2009 there is an interesting presentation of painted art on egg boxes by Greetje Kanis from Kampen and artistically used poultry feathers in ladies fashion made by Etta Adriaanse. The main attraction however is the collection of Hans Ringnalda s objects in which chickens are the main issue. Name of the exhibition is: Na het kraaien van de haan (When the rooster has crowed) and it is not very simple to name all there is to see. The shown pieces come from al over the world and each of them has a story. Apart from some photographs of the festive opening of the exhibition we give you a small selection of the many items there are to admire. The exhibition is open until the first of November 2009 in the Museum, together with the permanent exhibition and the 20 native Dutch breeds that one can admire outside. Above: A full house at the opening of the exhibition. Left: J.T. Wolleswinkel, chairman of the Dutch Organisation of Commercial Poultry keepers, presented the opening speech. He was transported to the Museum in a hooded cart pulled by 2 beautiful horses. In his speech he announced that the poultry industry does not see the hobby poultry keepers as a danger anymore and that one realises that a lot of mistakes have been made during the period of the bird flu. Right: Hans Ringnalda (left) offers the first small books on the theme When the rooster crowed to Hans Puttenstein, chairman of the Dutch Poultry and Rabbit Breeders Union, C. Florijp, chairman of the foundation Dutch Poultry Museum and J.T. Wolleswinkel.

2 Below: A small survey of what people can collect: medals, eggcups, porcelain etc, as long as it has to do with chickens. Photo: Aviculture Europe. Right: We all re-use egg cartons in our hobby, but the way Greetje Kanis re-uses them is absolutely amazing. With changing of colours she manages to expose depth and rhythm of the egg carton. Photo: Dirk de Jong. Left: Poultry feathers, art with a capital A, not only from Etta Adriaanse but also from the chicken. A feather is beautiful, a lot of them make a chicken look flamboyant, and Etta shows us how beautiful only a few feathers can be. Photo: Dirk de Jong. In the next pages you will see a selection of objects from the exhibition When the rooster has crowed. Photo s : Hans Ringnalda.

3 Left: The chicken thief of Aken is a statue situated on the Fountain of the square named Am Hühnerdieb. The story about the chicken thief fountain, written by H.J. Pagels, handles about a thief who stole chickens during the night when it was dark. In great hurry he stuck the chickens in his pockets until one of them began to crow, which startled him terribly and which gave him away. After he was taken captive and laughed at by the commoners the thief had plenty of time to think about the difference between a rooster and a hen. Right: Bronze rooster of Masier. Statues of Les Animaliers - artists who specialized in making animal sculptures - as they were sarcastically called at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the French Press, were not welcome in the Paris Salon - the art - exhibition of those times. That all changed when Louis Philippe around 1840 ordered the making of bronze animal statues for Public Buildings in Paris. At the beginning of the 20 th century they became THE big fashion. The quality varies enormously. The most beautiful ones were made with cire perdue (lost-wax casting). In this process, plaster was poured around an in wax modelled statue after which the wax was heated and therefore would melt. After that they poured bronze into the model and later the plaster was knocked of. All of these statues are unique and signed by the artist at the bottom of the statue. Cheap copies were poured of sand. They had fewer details, but the model could be used more times. Masier, who made this bronze rooster, is one of the most famous artists. Left: Twin egg cup, from England, once made for a newly married couple.

4 Right: Medals. A few examples of the extraordinary collection of medals. Clockwise: a medal of the Comice Agricole d Égbezéé (1932), designed in 1914 by Adolph Max, S.N.E. de Caussade (?), Société Nationale d Aviculture de France (1891) and of the Exposicion de Canaderia (1929), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Left: An Ostrich egg, decorated with all sorts of poultry breeds, coming from South Africa where it was also painted. Below: Ink pot set by N. Vidal. Art Nouveau. What makes it interesting is the fact that the represented chickens are Polands. The set was made in France.

5 Below: Luneville. There does not exist a lot of earthenware with decorations of roosters on it. But the brand Luneville offers 4 series of diner sets and tea sets; plates, cup and saucers, soup bowls, plates to serve cakes on, even soap dishes. In each of the 4 designs a different rooster is featured. This earthenware is still in production. The difference between the old and the new earthenware is recognisable because of little cracks in the glaze of the older pieces. Below: Angels carrying a barrel, decorated with a crested rooster. What this was used for is unknown. Possibly it comes from England and was made in Right: Mostly roosters are portrayed in very static pose, or in a fighting attitude, but this is something else: an attractive little sculpture of an Indian Game, made of brass, which is organising the feathers on its back.

6 Above: Algora porcelain from Spain is world famous, modelled up to the finest details and hand painted. Left: Clocks metdecorated with roosters are not commonly seen. Some are very detailled, others are inferior. This one is from France. Right: Card games featuring roosters are seldom and never complete. Right: Stamps. When newspapers and magazines were still set up in lead, they used stamps to print illustrations. These stamps with cocks are from Germany.

7 Left: Old and beautiful woodcarvings from one piece, coming from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Below: Solznay Porcelain from Hongary is world famous. This statue was made by Sinko and coming from the USA. Below: Mysticism. In the far east there is a mystical atmosphere concerning dragons which is a major part of the life over there. Little jars of jade, decorated with Chinese silver, were used to burn insence in. These jars are also decorated with roosters. The small perfume bottle and the smallest of vases are decorated with a dragon and a phoenix, which, as was thought, brought luck. This item comes from the south of China.

8 Left: The French rooster. In French history the rooster always played an important role. This scene of about 90 years old points out that the (French) rooster defeated the (German) eagle and crows out his victiorie. Comes from France. Below: A finely sculptured Cochin hen in East German porcelain. Below: These little cocks, created from brass and stone, are made in Russia. Right: Bone. Carving of roosters would also be done in bone. This one was made as a tribute to the year of the Rooster (2005) in China. Copyright 2009 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC