Adya van Rees-Dutilh. Cacao Chocolat Droste, Projet d'affiche No.2

Ca. 1924. Original framed collage, coloured paper and ink on brown sheet, 36.5 x 30.5 cm, image 24.3 x 18 cm. Title written in Adya's handwriting in pencil on rear board, with annotation by Kuitenbrouwer dated 1972 in pen. Provenance: collection K. Schippers. Exhibition history: 'Palet van het Interbellum' 2013 and 'Holland Dada and the international context' 2016, both at Museum Dr8888 Drachten. Exhibition labels on verso.

Adrienne Catherine (Adya) Dutilh (1876 -1959) was a Dutch lithographer, painter and textile artist, particularly known for her abstract embroideries and collages. Together with her husband Otto van Rees (1884-1957), she was active in the international avantgarde, closely associated with Arp, Sophie Taeuber, Mondriaan et al. Adya participated in the famous Der Sturm exhibition in 1913, one of the most important international exhibitions of Modern art shown in Germany before World War I. She also exhibited at the first Dada exhibition in 1915 at Gallery Tanner in Zurich. In the 1920s she started designing advertising posters and fabric designs in her signature collage technique. Although very little work survived, her pioneering oeuvre has recently been re-appraised when a large exhibition took place at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in 2024. The International Dada Archive holds some of her works, the Centraal Museum Utrecht owns a 'cacao' collage similar to the one in this lot (Projet d' affiche No. 4).