Babs Haenen

Babs Haenen (Dutch, b. 1948) is a ceramic artist living and working in Amsterdam. Haenen’s expressive sculptures in colored porcelain are informed by twentieth century abstract painting as well as elements from the natural world. Her richly pigmented painterly compositions on slabs of porcelain are alive with movement, granting equal importance to color, line, and form. Each composition is constructed from pieces of clay which are cut, folded, and stacked into three-dimensional forms. The resulting sculptures often resemble vessels or mountain peaks, rippling as though caught by eddies of water or carved by natural forces; they are always imbued with a turbulent, dynamic complexity.

Haenen first worked as a dancer before studying visual art at the Gerrit Rietvield Academy in Amsterdam. In 1987, Haenen was the recipient of an award from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB). She also received the 1991 INAX Design Prize for Europeans. Her work is in the permanent collection of many museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Stedelijk Museum, Frans Hals Museum Haarlem, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.