Text

On the sea side, a square brick measuring station stands on a paved seawall in which a stairway has been masonry. The lighthouse looms up at a suitable distance. Compared to this eye-catcher, the measuring station on the corner of the Vissershavenweg is nothing special. The building does look robust, but it is too low to deserve the status of eye-catcher. Comparisons with an obelisk or a monolithic column are inappropriate. The unimaginative architecture of the building does not contribute to its appearance. What remains is the prominent spot near the harbour of Scheveningen.

To make the appearance of the building more attractive, a wall object by Jack van Osnabrugge has been attached to one of the brick walls. The design shows strong similarities to the freestanding sculpture by the same artist on the Van Boetzelaerlaan, with the understanding that the wall object does not offer a view-through, which minimises the spatial effect.

Van Osnabrugge is especially known for his jewellery. Together with his partner Ariette van Osnabrugge he owns a studio gallery on the Bloemgracht, in the heart of the Amsterdam Jordaan area. There they also provide courses in goldsmithing and exhibit both their own work and that of colleagues. Until 1980 the artist duo ran a similar studio gallery on Prinsegracht in The Hague. Jewellery by Jack van Osnabrugge has been acquired by the Gemeentemuseum The Hague, among others.

The incidental interaction that occurs with this artist between jewellery art and monumental commissions is remarkable. Among other things, he made a play object for a primary school and several spatial objects. The design of the wall object on the Zeekant is related to that of the jewellery. Of course the formats differ, but the ordering principles are similar. Everything revolves around the logical coherence and well-considered composition of forms, surfaces and volumes, and around the interaction between form and residual form.