Artwork Data

Title

Gezins- en kinderverzorgster

Artist

Dirk Bus

Year

1957

Material

brons

Artwork Location

Address

Westbroekpark, Den Haag

City district

Scheveningen

GPS data

52.104690416698, 4.2894202895187 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Dirk Bus lived and worked in The Hague for almost his entire life. Only during his advanced training at the Rijksakademie did he live in Amsterdam. Besides the Rijksakademie, where he was taught by the famous sculptor Jan Bronner, Bus also studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

Bus manifested himself as a sculptor with a strong preference for the depiction of people and animals. He has carried out many monumental commissions and his work is included in various museum collections (including the Haags Gemeentemuseum). The artist's name is especially strongly associated with the city of The Hague. This is not surprising, as Bus was for many years the chairman of Pulchri, the artists' association in The Hague.

The Hague is the pre-eminent domain of Dirk Bus. In 'his' city, the Grenadier Monument and the sculpture 'Europe' can be found, among other things. For a number of monumental commissions, Bus worked together with colleagues from The Hague, including Bram Roth and Gerard van Remmen.

Bus' figurative style is characteristic of the social realist tradition that was in great demand in the first post-war years. This tradition demanded solid and recognisable images with a broad social basis and a social face. The slightly stylised sculpture of the family and child carer, placed near a school on Capadosestraat, also fits that pattern. It reflects the spirit of the times, in which caring for one's fellow man was an important part of the system of norms and values. A caring woman holds a pan with food in her hand. She lovingly looks down at the child that is seeking protection and security.

When the primary school where this sculpture used to stand was renovated, the sculpture was given a new home in 2009. It was placed in the middle of the rosary in the Westbroek Park. There, the caring woman fills the empty space created by Jos van Riemsdijk's 'Crabbing Rooster', which was stolen in 2008.

 

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