Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Surinamestraat, Den Haag
City district
Centrum
GPS data
52.090587475523, 4.3070269023773 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
Young she was, a woman and a sculptor. At the beginning of the 20th century, that combination was definitely not a recipe for recognition and success. On the contrary. Born into a noble family, Cornélie Caroline van Asch van Wijck did have access to (art) education. None other than Flemish sculptor Toon Dupuis was her teacher. By his hand, there are several statues in the royal city(Monument to Queen Mother Emma) , while there is no trace of her work in the city. Until the summer of 2022.
Since June of that year, the bronze statue of a naked man, created by Cornélie van Asch van Wijck, has stood on Surinamestraat. Leaning forward, head hidden in one arm, it evokes memories of The Thinker (1902) by the famous French sculptor August Rodin. The sculptor from The Hague died in 1932 in the maternity of her first child. The small oeuvre she left behind, besides some sensitively realistic bronze human figures, consists mainly of elongated and stylized female heads and masks in glass and pottery. The gold medal she won with the Mask (1929) made at glass factory Leerdam at the World Exhibition in Antwerp in 1930 marked her breakthrough. Unfortunately, she was not able to develop her talent any further.
While clearing out the attic of a deceased relative, local resident Gilles Hooft Graafland found a plaster model (1927) of his great-aunt who died young. As a tribute to her, he had it cast in bronze by sculptor Eppe de Haan in 2014 and gave it the title Inkeer. After it was exhibited at Museum Beelden aan Zee, he took the initiative to give the sculpture a permanent place in the neighborhood where she once lived. Thus, in cooperation with the residents' association, Hooft Graafland snatched his great-aunt's work from oblivion and at the same time enriched The Hague with a sculpture by a female sculptor.