Living With Indonesian Art

This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Een huis vol Indonesie: Het mooiste uit de collectie Liefkes, held at RijksmuseumVolkenkunde / National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, 7 May-21 July 2013. It is best to tell the history of a museum through the important events that have touched it. Defining moments, that often only afterwards are recognised as such. That the gift of Frits Liefkes collection of Indonesian art and the bequest that accompanied it deserves a place in the history of Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde was immediately evident to us at the time. On account of the quality, size, and breadth of the collection, of course. And because Frits Liefkes stipulated, in relation to the gift, that pieces of lesser quality could be sold and the proceeds used to strengthen our Indonesia collection. There came, over and above that, a substantial bequest, in part the result of the sale of His house. An unbelievable gift, that will live on in Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde through the acquisitions that it makes possible.