khingspiration part 1

April 7 – June 19, 2023

Whoever has a birthday celebrates. And that is why the well-known illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing has invited Marloes De Vries and Emanuel Wiemans to join him in the Verwey Museum. Haarlem to exhibit. From 7 April to 18 June they will show their work and from 21 June to 11 September Janneke Ipenburg and Branco Suijkerbuijk will take their place. All four were personally selected by Khing, and all four were influenced or inspired by the master in some way. 

'It's okay that you don't see that, that's good,' says Khing about the foursome. 'Fortunately for them, they don't copy me. Then they would be copyists, now they have found their own way and their own style.' 

Part I: until 18 June

Marloes de Vries (Emmen, 1984) has always drawn and written, but it took a while before she actually made it her profession. As a child she always had a pencil in my hand and she drew on everything that stuck and loose. The illustrations by Thé Tjong-Khing played a major role in this: her favorite was Little Sofie and Lange Wapper.
In 2020 she was invited by comics artist Aimée de Jongh to participate in Khings comics project The man who wasn't allowed to play the saxophone, and so she ended up with her great example in one book: 'You just don't say no to Khing. He's a hero of mine.'

Emmanuel Wiemans (Amsterdam, 1975) studied at the Utrecht School of the Arts in 1998, after which he made a name for himself as an illustrator, animator and storyboard artist.
His first acquaintance with Khing's work was the refined, small pen drawings for Miep Diekmanns Step step step: 'Adept, loving and with graceful, poetic lines. Also the Fox and Hareseries and the later books that Khing wrote himself, I think are beautiful: Birthday with cake en A nice spot, which we read from together with our children. The next generation also grows up with it. So beautiful. While many are enjoying their retirement at the age of 90, The Tjong-Khing still creates new work every day. How nice for me! And how nice for us!'