Arundel Contemporary

As an artist Hanselaar looks for ways to express those elusive questions of who and what we are, when the mask is off, and how we appear, when the mask is on. The shock effect of her work lies in the contrast achieved by combining her outspoken subject matter with the conventional media of oil painting or etching.
Both her paintings and her prints display her delight and fascination with theatrical illusions and, although often peppered with a biting sense of humour, the works reveal her own vibrant understanding of human nature in all its animosity and fragility.

Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Grew up in The Hague, Netherlands

​1962-64 Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands
2001 B-Tech Printmaking, Chelsea & Kensington College, London

2014 Clifford Chance Purchase Award at the International Print Biennial 2014
2012 Statutory Awards of MTG – Krakow International Print Triennial 2012
Guangdong Museum Purchase Prize, Qijiang, PR of China
2011 Shortlisted for and acquired by the Ruth Borchard Self portrait Collection
Birgit Skjold Prize for Pillowbook of Endless nights, acquired by V&A National Art Library
2010 Guangdong Museum Purchase Prize, Qijiang, PR of China
2008 Residency Frans Masereel Center, Belgium
2006 Aberystwyth, University of Wales Purchase Prize, Originals 06, London
2003 Presse Papier Award, Biennale Internationale d’estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

Growing up in the formal atmosphere of a Protestant post-war country proved to be a profound source of inspiration for the recurring subject matter in Hanselaar’s work; namely the fierce and sometimes troubled coexistence of raw desires, secret fantasies and uncultivated instincts, on the one hand, and our functioning in a civil society, on the other.

Although she studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, Hanselaar’s lust for adventure, guided by a quest for self-discovery, led her to years of wandering, until, in the early 80s she settled down in her studio in London, where she still lives.

Self-taught, she started out as an abstract painter before turning to figuration.

Marcelle Hanselaar lives and works in London.

2021 Long is the Road. Arundel Contemporary, Arundel, West Sussex

2018 Prints, 12 Star Gallery, London
2017 Dreamcatchers, de Queeste, Watou, Belgium
The Crying Game, 30 prints and booklaunch, Herrick Gallery, London
2016 Drawings/Tekeningen, de Queeste Art, Watou, Belgium
Drawing the line, Julian Page Fine Art, Clerkenwell Gallery, London
2015 Cushioning the blow, prints by the CC prizewinner, Clifford Chance HQ, London
2014 Wondrous world of an introvert, De Queeste Art, Watou, Belgium;
Open Secrets, Millennium, St Ives
2013 Walking the line, Kings Place Gallery, London
2012 Auerbach & Hanselaar, graphic works, Quest 21, Brussels, Belgium
2011 Mama, mama, the bear is Llose, De Queeste, Watou, Belgium
2010 Mama, mama, the bear is loose, Quest 21, Brussel; Biting the bullet, Millenium Gallery, St Ives;
Sticks & Stones, University Gallery and Baring Wing, Newcastle;
Sweet ‘n’ Low, Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc. London;
2009 Back to Basics, SNAP Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2008 The Weight of Smoke, Galerie de Buytensael, Arnhem;
The Weight of Smoke, East West Gallery, London;
Down the Rabbit Hole, University of Aberystwyth Gallery, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
2007 The Weight of Smoke, De Queeste Art, Watou;
The Weight of Smoke, University of Brussels Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2006 La Petite Mort, Stephanie Burns Fine Art, Canberra;
Intimate Conversations, Artonomy Fine Art, Truro
2005 La Petite Mort,19 etchings, East West Gallery, London;
La Petite Mort, De Queeste Kunstkamers, Watou, Belgium
2004 Shouts & Whispers, Stephanie Burns Gallery, Canberra;
Silence is easy, De Queeste Kunstkamers, Watou, Belgium
2003 You said you loved me, RM Art, Essen, Germany
Sometimes I dream about reality, East West Gallery, London
2001 Incomplete Tales, Erasmus Gallery, Rotterdam; All of Me, East West Gallery, London

© 2018 by Arundel Contemporary 53 High Street, Arundel, West Sussex, B

Public Collections

British Museum Prints Collection, London, UK

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Print Collection, New York, USA
V& A Prints & Drawings Collection, London, UK
V&A National Art Library, London, UK
Whithworth Art Gallery and Museum, Manchester, UK
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,UK
Clifford Chance Art Collection, London, UK
Meermanno Museum, the Hague, Netherlands
The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, London, UK
Richard Harris Collection, US
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, US
Sakimi Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan
Guandong Fine Art Museum, Guandong, China
University of Aberystwyth Print Collection, Wales, UK
Frans Masereel Center, Belgium
New Hall, Cambridge, UK
Clare Hall, Cambridge, UK
Rabo Bank, London, UK
Merrill Lynch, London, UK
AMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam Arts Council, Netherlands
Kunstcollectie Gemeente Haaksbergen
Risk Publications, London, UK
Mitsukoshi Ltd., London, UK
Paintings in Hospitals, London, UK
University of Arizona, Tucson, US
Iraq National Library, Baghdad
The Ned, London, UK