Riekje Swart
Hendrika Swart was a Dutch gallery owner of Gallery Swart in Amsterdam from 1964 until 2000. She was awarded the Benno Premsela Prize in 2002 for her contribution to the development of visual arts in the Netherlands.
Biography
Youth, education and early career
Riekje Swart was born in George Town, Penang, in Malaysia, as the daughter of Karel Swart, sea captain at the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij and Anna Barbara Drabbe, a nurse in those days. After moving around with her family they settled in 1934, where she attended the gymnasium.After the German bombing of Rotterdam the family moved to Laren, North Holland, where she finished high school. After the war she studied law at the University of Amsterdam, receiving her bachelor's degree but failing for her master's degree.
In the 1950s Swart was head of staff at a bank for years. During her studies she had read literature a lot and had visited theater. The 1949 COBRA exhibition triggered her interest in contemporary art and the protest movement of the artists, and by the end of the 1950s she turned her career around.