Artwork Data

Title

Muzikant op de Meent II

Artist

Peter Harskamp

Year

1992

Material

Keramiek

Artwork Location

Address

George Bizetstraat, Den Haag

City district

Loosduinen

GPS data

52.059347705513, 4.242930912776 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

He sits there, relaxed, strumming his guitar. Legs crossed, head bent towards the sound box of his instrument. You can almost hear the musician playing. This sculpture by Peter Harskamp is entirely at home in the music neighbourhood in The Hague. Moreover, this colourful ceramic work brightens up the small car park at George Bizetstraat and Jules Massenetstraat.

In all his paintings and sculptures, Harskamp depicts both animals and people. He greatly simplifies his figures, but nevertheless keeps them recognisable for everyone. His style is reminiscent of Picasso's work: the large, round volumes, the strongly stylised noses, the peculiar perspective. Although Harskamp has been making bronze sculptures since the 1980s, in his early years he mainly worked in ceramics. That was when he had just graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam.

A number of these ceramic sculptures were purchased by the municipality of The Hague under the Visual Artists Regulation (BKR). Initially, these were small sculptures. Until, in the mid-eighties, Harskamp was given the opportunity under the same scheme to make a monumental work for a primary school on the Jacob de Graefflaan. His own small kiln was inadequate for the production of such a large work, so he ended up at Struktuur 68, the ceramics workshop in The Hague.

Working on a large scale has certainly whetted his appetite, because not long afterwards he produced two large ceramic sculptures of musicians. These two guitar-playing figures were probably also created within the framework of the BKR. Originally, one of them stood in the park in Strausslaan and the other in George Bizetstraat. Unfortunately, the first one no longer exists. The second one is quietly strumming along.

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