Intimate Audrey: An Exhibition
Last month I went to visit my native country The Netherlands for the holidays. I knew beforehand that I would be in time to go and see the Audrey Hepburn exhibition Intimate Audrey at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam so I made sure to reserve an afternoon to do so. This homecoming exhibition runs until the 31st of this month so there are still a couple of days left to catch it.
Intimate Audrey is a 'bespoke' exhibition, created by her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer, and is a celebration of Audrey's 90th birthday anniversary year. The exhibition was originally launched in Brussels, the place where Audrey was born on 4 May 1929 as Audrey Kathleen Ruston *), and it moved to The Netherlands in November last year. This move makes sense since Audrey spent a great deal of her formative years in The Netherlands and here is where her talent was nurtured.
*) She was actually born in Ixelles, one of the nineteen municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium.
The exhibition is Sean's tender homage to his mother and consists of hundreds of rare photographs (original and reprinted), dresses and accessories (like Audrey's ballet shoes), memorabilia and awards, her fashion drawings (never seen before) and humanitarian writings, all displayed on 600 square meters in the Exhibition North Hall of Beurs van Berlage. Also included are a series of moving videos. The profits of the exhibition will go to EURORDIS - Rare Diseases Europe and to the Brugmann and Bordet hospitals in Brussels.
The exhibition is a living biography, a family album, and the thing that immediately attracts attention is the lack of text cards with the photos. Especially with those of Audrey's parents and her family I would have liked to know a bit more about who was in the photos and when or where they were taken. Sean chose not to include captions because the visitors are supposed to feel as if they are part of Audrey's extended family. It's all about the woman behind the legend.
I thought it was a nice exhibition, laid out chronologically and thematically, with also a pretty yet fake cherry tree in one of the rooms. We (I was with my two sisters and a friend) visited on an afternoon somewhere between Christmas and New Year's Eve and I had expected a crowd because of the holiday season. But people must have had other things to do because there were few visitors. I wasn't complaining.
Now let me say something about what really bothered me about this exhibition. I read reviews and articles about Intimate Audrey and was surprised that no one mentions it. Fortunately I stumbled upon this article — (Google translation here) — in De Filmkrant, a Dutch website, where author Laura van Zuylen takes a critical look at the exhibition and expresses my sentiments exactly. Namely, that this exhibition is about Sean and HIS mother. He chose what to include and exclude. Which means that there is no room here for Audrey's second husband Andrea Dotti, nor for her second son Luca or for her last partner Robert Wolders. They are completely absent as if they didn't play any part in Audrey's life. What we do have is a room especially dedicated to SEAN with photos, his cradle and some children's clothing. Also a room with wedding photos of Audrey and her first husband, actor Mel Ferrer, and her wedding dress and their wedding rings on display as well. In another room there is a caption accompanying photos of Sean's parents together saying that the years with Mel were "the happiest of Audrey's life". (Audrey says in a 1989 interview with Barbara Walters that she's very happy with Robert Wolders and that it's the best time of her life. "It took a while but I got there.")
Okay, I can understand that Sean wanted this to be HIS personal family album. But then don't go advertising this exhibition as a celebration of Audrey's life. Because her intimate life included much more than Mel and Sean alone. Like Van Zuylen says in her article: "Intimate Audrey is above all an interesting psychological glimpse inside the head of a child of a film star, who wants to have his mother to himself again. Hepburn was taken away by various European cities, by Hollywood and fashion, by his half-brother. Now Ferrer claims her back. The exhibition shouts: this is My Mother."
NOTE CONCERNING PHOTOS:
You weren't allowed to take photos at the exhibition except of the Vespa. This is supposedly the real Vespa on which Audrey explored Rome in Roman Holiday so I was surprised that you were actually allowed to sit on it. Of course I had my picture taken sitting on the Vespa but I'm not going to show it here. All photos in this post that were on display at the exhibition are taken from the internet since I respected the wish not to take photos. Below I'll also include photos of the Dotti husband and child and of Robert Wolders, sort of making my own Intimate Audrey.
PHOTOS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Intimate Audrey;
*Poster of the exhibition hanging outside the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam; (location photo taken by me)
*Wedding exhibition room with the wedding dress; (photo taken from the internet)
*Poster and the real Vespa from Roman Holiday; (location photo taken by me)
*Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn; *)
*Audrey Hepburn and baby Sean; *)
*Audrey and Sean; *)
*Audrey and Mel, photo by Ed Feingersh; *)
*Audrey and baby Luca;
*Audrey and husband Dr. Andrea Dotti photographed in downtown Rome, August 1970;
*Audrey and Robert Wolders, 1980s.
*) photo displayed at the exhibition but taken from the internet