Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Johan de Wittlaan, Den Haag
City district
Scheveningen
GPS data
52.0892828208486, 4.28260102617424 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
Make a large, full-length, likeness portrait of Nelson Mandela: that was the assignment that the Stichting Standbeeld Nelson Mandela (Nelson Mandela Foundation) in The Hague gave to artist Arie Schippers in 2008. Schippers was originally a painter of mainly landscapes. The request in 2004 to show his imaginary portraits that he had sculpted in the meantime, at Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen, was a turning point. Schippers does not make his sculptures from stone or clay. He cuts, saws and scrapes them out of synthetic polyurethane foam. The resulting pur model can later be used as a mould for bronze casting. This also applies to his Mandela sculpture.
Even though the portrait had to be a good likeness, Schippers is not interested in strict realism. According to the sculptor, there is no poetry, will or urgency in that. He appropriates his subject, but does not follow it slavishly. He adds his own observations to it. It was clear from the start that it had to be a monumental sculpture. Not a static thing, but a walking Mandela: after all, he is someone who always continues to walk unperturbed. Always moving forward. Only the posture and facial expression show what his fight against apartheid cost him personally.
Schippers didn't think Mandela was a man for a pedestal either. That is why he placed him directly in the street, between other people, but with his three and a half metres of length towering above them. The footsteps of children have been placed in the pavement, walking towards Mandela. As future generations, they will carry on Mandela's ideals.
On 25 September 2012, Desmond Tutu, retired archbishop and friend of Mandela, unveiled the monument.