Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Noordwal, Den Haag
City district
Centrum
GPS data
52.078493875804, 4.3001791834831 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
Man and woman walk towards the door of the former clubhouse Het Anker. The two figures, made up of large ceramic tiles, together form the work of art that the Scheveningen ceramist Leontine Pronk created in 1986 for the community centre at Noordwal 117. The man and woman act as signposts, but also stand for the local residents who are on their way to an information meeting or a sociable bingo evening.
When asked what exactly prompted the installation of this work of art, Louis Schuerman, team leader at Het Anker at the time, replied: 'The community centre is located in an old school building. The long outside wall formed a closed front. To break that up, we wanted to add something to the façade. It was Leontine Pronk's ceramic tile tableau, a work of art that also expresses very well that the community centre is the place in the neighbourhood where people come together.
In this work of art, man is central. Yet the human form is absent from Pronk's free work. Among other things, she made abstract sculptures in rough, powerful shapes, decorated with a single mysterious sign. These images reflect her source of inspiration: the untouched, wild mountain landscape.
In 1993 she started adding colour to the glazes; before that she always worked with earth tones. The tile panel 'Man and woman walking' therefore has - apart from a yellow accent - no bright, striking colours.