Theo de Feyter´s new  book will be presented during the opening of the exhibition ‘Tekenen voor Amsterdam’” (‘Drawing the city’) in the Stadsarchief Amsterdam on June 13. The exhibition shows new acquisitions of the City Archives’ Topographical Atlas by various artists: Wendelien Schönfeld, Titus Dekker, Frans Koppelaar, Joanna Quispel, Lau Heidendael, Jaap Ploos van Amstel, Kris Spinhoven, and Bert Osinga. De Feyter´s work is represented by next to twenty gouaches of the Hemelsbreed-project, a painted line through Amsterdam.

Theo de Feyter, Jacob van Lennepstraat (Hemelsbreed 38), Gouache

“On the map of Amsterdam I drew a straight line from my studio to my apartment. Where ever this line crossed a street, square, pond or canal I sat down and painted after nature, always looking in the direction of our apartment. The distance from studio to apartment is almost nine kilometers as the crow flies and has fifty five such virtual crossings. The complete line with the pictures represents the history of Amsterdam. Because Amsterdam has a concentric structure one descends so to speak into time: from the rural outskirts and the most recently built quarters through the parts built in the twentieth and nineteenth centuries till one reaches the canal zone of the eighteenth to sixteenth century. Since the making of one picture took me one to three days many people passed by to see what I was doing and gave their comments on what art should be, on the quality of the neighborhood I was painting and sometime told me their life story. Every picture is accompanied by a text describing these meetings. Summaries in English of these descriptions can be found at the end of the book.” ( Theo de Feyter)

Theo de Feyter, Keizersgracht (Hemelsbreed 44), Gouache, 27 x 40 cm

Hemelsbreed, een geschilderde lijn door Amsterdam (with summaries in English)
Publisher: Theo de Feyter, Tekst & Teken Series, volume 7  Amsterdam 2013

‘Tekenen voor Amsterdam’, June 14 – August 25 2013
Stadsarchief Amsterdam. Vijzelstraat 32, 1017 HL Amsterdam