"Rijksmuseum: An Illustrated Guide To The Principal Works Of Art" by F. Schmidt-Degener, published by Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, 1929. First English edition.

Soft cover with gilt lettering on front cover [some wear, small damage of back cover: see photos]; 6.1/4" x 8.1/2"; 2 fold-out plans, 93 pages + monochrome plates, a little foxing, very good condition.

Frederik Schmidt-Degener (1881-1941) was art historian, museum director and poet. Schmidt-Degener attended the Gymnasium at Rotterdam. He began studying Art History in Berlin continuing his study for four years further at the Sorbonne without completing a degree. In 1908 he became the Director of the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam. At the Boymans, he reorganized the museum and changed the installations in order to give a broader overview.

As a museum reformer, he played a mayor role in the Rijkscommissie voor het Museumwezen (State Commission for Museum Affairs) set up in 1919. A museum, he insisted, was not principally a depository of art works for archivists and art historians to study, but rather a place for the public to enjoy beauty. He espoused exhibiting works of art for exhibition based upon their aesthetic merit, contending that works important primarily for study and research should be viewed separately.

His appointment as Director of the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum in 1921 brought the same dramatic reorganization to that museum as he had done in Rotterdam. He mixed objects of various media together in his installations, paintings with sculptures and other art objects in a manner similar to what Wilhelm Bode had done in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. Separate departments of national history were opened in Rijksmuseum in 1930 and 1937.

US: Priority (c 2-4 days) -------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c 2-6 weeks) -- $30.50
World: 1st Class (c 2-7 weeks) --- $40.50