Text

This afternoon a sculpture by Titus Leeser was placed at the entrance to the Red Cross Hospital on Fahrenheitstraat. It depicts the healed patient leaving, escorted by a nurse. The sculpture, almost two and a half metres high, was financed with funds earmarked for the decoration of the new hospital'.

This news item, illustrated with a photo, appeared in the Nieuwe Haagsche Courant of 19 October 1961. Monotonously, the two young women step into the future. With a loving gesture, the nurse pushes the ex-patient in front of her, as if to say 'Go on, it's all right, you're better'. This bronze sculpture is characterised by movement; blowing hair, rustling skirts and waving arms that support the rhythm of the advancing step. The movement, but also the somewhat angular formal language and the elongated, stylised figures, are typical of Leeser.

Leeser was born in Cologne and grew up in The Hague. Trained as a painter at The Hague and Munich Academy of Art, he was initially active as a draughtsman and designer of children's book illustrations, advertising material and book covers. His friendship with the sculptors Hermann Haller and Zoltán Székessy led to a change after 1933: Leeser started modelling and carving. Drawing became the service of sculpting. He made countless design sketches for a three-dimensional work of art.

Initially, his sculptures still showed a penchant for the classical form language, but after the Second World War, under the influence of modern foreign developments, he explored abstraction. Leeser shows that he was well acquainted with the work of great sculptors such as Giacometti, Zadkine and Moore. The elongated figures, the comparatively small heads and the play with open and closed forms betray their influence. It is this stylistic innovation that Leeser brings together in his own original way in the bronze Healing and Nursing.

The Red Cross Hospital closed its doors at Sportlaan on Jan. 1, 2021. Together with the Juliana Children's Hospital, it was then moved to the Leyweg where all types of care can be found under one roof. It took a while before the statue of Titus Leeser also moved. In late 2023/early 2024, Healing and Nursing were again given a new place where they could fulfill their roles.