Artwork Data

Title

Moeder met kind en poppenwagen

Artist

Bram Roth

Year

1962

Material

brons

Dimensions

h. 120 cm

Partial collection

Intro Westbroekpark

Artwork Location

Address

Westbroekpark, Den Haag

City district

Scheveningen

GPS data

52.103067223956, 4.2919262219216 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Yes, I like them. [...]; I like girls and women, whether they are old or young. I like my granddaughter when she plays with her dolls. There is something mysterious about them, they hold the mystery of life. This was the answer given by sculptor Bram Roth in 1977 when the magazine 'Scheppend ambacht' asked him why women predominated in his work.

Roth wanted to capture the elusiveness of women and children in his sculptures. He did so with his bronze 'Mother with child and doll's pram' from 1962. In a figurative, somewhat stylised handwriting he sketches a romantic image of the bond between mother and child. He literally and figuratively shows us a small reality, as the sculpture is no higher than 120 centimetres. Roth has chosen the moment well. The mother lovingly leans slightly to one side towards her daughter. Her dress falls in a big fold over her legs. Underneath, the curves of her body are visible. In her play, the girl tenderly lifts a tip of the doll's pram blanket. She does not look at her 'child'. Enjoying the peace and quiet of the Westbroek Park, shutting out all passers-by, mother and daughter look silently ahead.

Roth shows with this image that he was indeed immensely curious about the world of women. But also that he must have been full of admiration. It was at a time when men were not yet walking behind prams. And the home and children belonged to the domain of the woman. By depicting them, Roth could enter their - for him magical - world.

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