Artwork Data

Title

Gelaarsde kat

Artist

Johan Keller

Year

onbekend/voor 2e WO

Material

brons / steenachtig

Dimensions

h. 104 cm

Partial collection

Intro Westbroekpark

Artwork Location

Address

Westbroekpark, Den Haag

City district

Scheveningen

GPS data

52.103704836156, 4.2901215680669 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

His work can be found in our national art temple: the Rijksmuseum. Sculptor/painter Johan Keller is represented in Amsterdam with three busts. Yet he is not very well known. This may be due to his frequent stays abroad. Via Brussels, Florence, Naples and Paris, Keller arrived in England at the end of the 19th century, where he taught at the Glasgow Sculptor Academy between 1898 and 1911 and carried out various commissions.

On his return to the Netherlands in 1915, he was asked to design sculptures for the Rotterdam Town Hall on the Coolsingel. The peace angel on the tower is by Keller. This female figure, reproduced meticulously in nature, shows that Keller's art was strongly linked to the traditions of the 19th century. He worked in Rotterdam together with kindred spirits such as Arend Odé (1865-1955) and Toon Dupuis (1877-1937).

What applies to his portraits and other sculptures applies equally to the fairytale figure of "Puss in Boots", Keller's only sculpture in his native The Hague. The naturalistically rendered cat in human form shows not only artistic craftsmanship, but also great flexibility in handling the material.

Puss in Boots in Westbroek Park honours author Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who wrote fairy tales from oral tradition. Together with 'Cinderella', 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Puss in boots' first appeared in Perrault's 1667 collection of Fairy Tales of Mother Goose. The story is about the youngest of three miller's sons. The boy is disappointed when he is given only a cat as an inheritance. Give me boots and a sack and everything will be all right', the cat reassures him. Indeed, the cat convinces the king to marry his beautiful daughter to the poor miller's son by trickery and deceit. Keller has portrayed the cat exactly as we know him from the fairy tale: a frivolous, dandy-like charlatan, clever and inventive.

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