Kunst zij ons Doel

Kunst zij ons doel, or KZOD, (English: Art be our aim) is the name of an artists club in the Waag, Haarlem.

The Society was founded in 1821 as the continuation of the 'Haarlemse Teekenacademie', established in 1772 by Cornelis van Noorde, Tako Hajo Jelgersma, Hendrik de Meijer, Christiaan Henning, Leendert Overbeek and Paul van Liender in the fundatiehuis set up by Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, who was one of the directors. After Teyler died they moved to the Warmoestraat around the corner. That society was started as a drawing academy that was connected to the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. The drawing academy ran into financial difficulties when the guilds were disbanded in 1794. It died entirely when its most fervent leader, Cornelis van Noorde, died in 1795.

His friend and co-director, Wybrand Hendriks, took the initiative to start a new society called the Teekencollegie. Hendriks was curator of the Teylers Museum, and he took over the inventory of plaster casts from the academie and set up a new educational group, which changed its name in 1809 to "Kunstmin en Vlijt". In 1820 a few artists left this group and started a new group called "Kunst Zij Ons Doel", and when "Kunstmin en Vlijt" closed down in 1826, this group became the only artist collective in Haarlem. The group attracted many young members in the first 50 years of its existence. From 1841 KZOD received 200 guilders a year from the Teylers Stichting, when it moved its quarters to the Waag.

The "KZOD" is the oldest professional association of visual artists in the Netherlands still in existence today. Prominent artists who have worked there as members were Andreas Schelfhout, Jan Hendrik van Borssum Buisman, Hendrik Jacobus Scholten, and the glass artists Willem Bogtman and Nico Schrier. After the First World War the society became less of an educational institution and more of a club. Exhibitions were organized in the Waag, and later in a new exhibition hall in the Frans Hals Museum. Regular exhibitions are now held at the Waag as a sales venue and curious visitors can peek out the windows over the Spaarne and view the scene of many KZOD drawing classes as they view the modern works on sale.

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Wikipedia