Ongehoord – Verzamelde Vrouwen at Museum Gouda

Published July 23, 2025

Karen Polder used various weights (primarily the condensed versions) of the variable font Tonka by Céline Hurka and Huw D. Williams for the colorful exhibition design of Ongehoord – Verzamelde vrouwen at Museum Gouda in the Netherlands. The exhibition will be on view until February 2026.

Translated from the websites of Karen Polder and the Museum Gouda:

Six hundred years of history seen through the eyes of women. From the daring Countess Jacoba of Bavaria and the pioneering calligrapher Maria Strick, to the influential artist Charley Toorop, glass engraver Johanna Breebaart who put her talents to use in the emancipation movement of the 19th century, and the contemporary Gouda woman Rkia Majourhate. Women in the collection of Museum Gouda, in this exhibition they have a face, a name and often a very special story.

From housewives to artists, women have always played an undeniable role, despite limited recognition in their time. Women at all levels of society have considerable independence in the early modern era, but they leave few tangible traces. In the archives, most women are referred to only as a housewife, husband, mother or daughter of a man. How did they position themselves in a world often dominated by men?

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