Increasing numbers of young artists began approaching the studios of Haarlem sculptors Mari Andriesse and Theo Mulder, asking whether they could become their apprentices. Half-jokingly, Andriesse suggested: “Couldn’t we start a little school?” What followed was a first attempt to offer an alternative to the regular academic art education of the time, based on direct contact between emerging artists and experienced colleagues. Initially, this ‘workshop-based education’ was offered at the Koudenhorn barracks in Haarlem, in spaces run by experienced artists—a modern version of the traditional master-apprentice model. Students chose an artist to apprentice with and then worked independently in that artist’s studio. By then, the group of ‘teachers’ had been joined by several other professional sculptors and painters.

The barracks that had housed ateliers ’63 up to that point were cleared by the municipality of Haarlem to make way for the city’s police headquarters. Fortunately, the then-director Paul Schotel found alternative accommodation in the former Sint Jozef monastery on the Zijlsingel in Haarlem, where the institute would remain until 1992. To some, it was an appropriate location: De Ateliers has more than once been described as a kind of monastery for artists, a place where they can withdraw and concentrate on their practice.

Marcel Vos became director, a position he held until 1995. By then, De Ateliers had become well established within the Dutch art education landscape and began to influence other so-called post-academic institutions. While participants at De Ateliers had already been working with happenings, performance and video art for years, students at the Rijksakademie were still studying anatomical drawing. Between 1984 and 1986, the Rijksakademie’s management undertook a series of structural reforms, with De Ateliers serving as an unexpected point of reference. From then on, young artists at the Rijksakademie were given their own studios for two years and visited by ‘advisers’, rather than receiving classroom-based instruction from professors, as had previously been customary in post-academic education.

After the Rijksakademie announced its move to the current location on Sarphatistraat in the late 1980s, the idea arose to take over the building they had left behind. This process would turn out to be full of challenges, but in 1992, the time had finally come: De Ateliers made its move to Amsterdam. The new building was a dream come true: large spaces, high north-facing windows, and an enormous building specially designed for art education. The fact that the monument was in poor condition did not dampen the spirits. The participants enthusiastically helped with the plastering and painting, and artist Sol LeWitt, sympathetic to the cause, designed a tiled floor for the participants' common areas.

Ateliers ‘63 turns 63! This is being celebrated with a brand-new website full of archival material, photos, and information.

If you want to read more about the history of De Ateliers, you might like De Ateliers 1963 – 2023. History of an artists’ institute, a book written by art critic and our former director Dominic van den Boogerd.