Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.
  • Mark Twain

Rien Bekkers (1950)

Education

1967 – 1972 / Drawing Academy, Tilburg

1972 – 1976 / Fashion Design, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam

1976 – 1980 / Assistant Costume Designer RO-Theatre, Rotterdam

Teaching

1979 – 1989 / Teacher Fashion Design, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam

1999 – now / Teacher Costume Design, Academy of Art/Theatre School, Maastricht

Work

Since 1980  independent costume designer for large and small subsidised groups in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with leading Dutch directors.

Designed costumes for more than 150 theatre-, ballet – and opera performances

– Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Amsterdam

– The National Theatre, The Hague

– The Nationale Reisopera, Enschede

– The Muziektheater Transparant, Antwerp

– Dance company Krisztina de Chatel

– Schiller Theater, Berlin

– Royal Flamisch Theatre, Bruxelles

– Royal Dutch Theatre, Antwerp

– Deutsches Theater, Berlin

– The movie Erik or The Small Insect Book

– The Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam

– Staatstheater Hannover, Hannover

– Staatsoper Mannheim, Mannheim

List of Exhibitions

The Netherlands

  • Van Elektra tot Fidelio – Rijksmuseum Twenthe, 2005 – ABP Heerlen, 2006
  • Theater Instituut Nederland, 2006
  • Kasteel Duivenwoorden, 2010
  • The Golden Age Costumes of family portrait Dirck Bas translated in Banana paper and Barkcloth – Amsterdams Museum, 2013
  • Dromen van Shakespeare – Het Noordbrabants Museum, May 26 – August 23 2015

South Korea

  • World Stage Design Seoul, 2009

Russian Federation

  • Dutch Shakespeare Dreams
  • State Theatrical Museum A.A. Bakhrushin, Moscow, september 2013 The Netherlands – Russian Federation year 2013

Indonesia

  •  The Epic, an Art project from Alex Vermeulen at the TonyRaka Gallery, Ubud – Bali Oktober 2018
  • The Epic, an Art project from Alex Vermeulen at the Erasmus Huis, Dutch Embassy – Jakarta February 2019

Publications & Articles

  • Kostuum Rien Bekkers an overview of 25 years of theatre costumes by Rien Bekkers
  • Costume at the turn of the century 1990-2015 an A.A.Bakhrushin Central State Theatre Museum publication.