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In an old photograph taken on the occasion of the retirement of the influential sculpture professor Jan Bronner, Jos van Riemsdijk poses amidst almost a hundred colleagues. Bronner (1881-1972) had devoted himself to training several generations of young sculptors at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. The photo was taken in July 1947 in the Vondel Pavilion in Amsterdam. It is remarkable that all the well-known sculptors of the time appear in it. Jos van Riemsdijk is largely hidden behind other attendees, but her amiable smile is just visible.

The modest place the sculptor occupies in this group photo is reminiscent of the sculpture 'Two girls', which she made five years later. Both girls are looking shyly at the ground. They are holding their hands behind their backs. Although they are standing right next to each other, they seem to be avoiding each other. Their backs are turned slightly towards each other and they each look in a different direction. The posture and the position of the legs and feet give the sculpture a natural look. The pony hairdo, the ponytails and the long necks reinforce the image of spindly adolescent girls who do not know how to cope with their posture.

Van Riemsdijk's bronze sculpture was placed in the public park on the Stadhouderslaan in 1954. The modest dimensions ensure that the petite stature of both girls seems just a little smaller than it should be in reality. Yet the girls appear tall and they are a little on the skinny side. Perhaps that was also the intention of the modest sculptor who is present in the group photo, but who consciously seems to make himself a little smaller. Considering the reputation that Josepha Gijsbertha ('Josje' for friends and intimates) enjoyed in her day as an artist, however, that modesty is totally unfounded.