Artwork Data
Title
Vrouw en man
Artist
Year
1964
Material
brons
Dimensions
h. 218 cm
Partial collection
Artwork Location
Address
Zuiderpark, Den Haag
City district
Escamp
GPS data
52.051845541205, 4.2875874711124 View on map
To be found on route
Artwork Description
Text
Is the man asking the woman to dance, or is this just a couple happily chatting away at work? When the sculpture 'Woman and Man' still stood in front of the Municipal Employment Office (GAB) on Troelstrakade, many will have realised that sculptor Bram Roth depicted the joy of work with this bronze sculpture. Roth refers to it in two ways. On the one hand, with the piece of equipment the man is carrying over his shoulder. On the other hand, the woman, looking up and holding up her skirt, seems to be collecting apples from a tree. Both are doing their work with good intentions.
Now that the sculpture 'Woman and Man' has been moved to the Zuiderpark, you might as well see a dancing couple in it, as the two seem to be happily twirling around each other. This shows once again how important the location is for the meaning given to a sculpture. Aside from the meaning, the sculpture is undoubtedly dynamic. Roth conveys the idea of movement by placing the two figures diagonally opposite each other. They are leaning backwards, the man is reaching out to the woman and her skirts are flared: aspects that reinforce the dynamic effect.
Whether it is work or dance, Roth's 1964 sculpture shows the carefree zest for life that is characteristic of his images. In the fourth issue of the magazine 'Scheppend Ambacht' (Creative craft) from 1977, Roth's work is discussed as follows: '[...] Bram Roth creates his own little world in which happiness and naturalness reign; silence and tenderness determine the atmosphere. It is a lost paradise, yet regained by the artist, full of poetry and loveliness. There is never any melancholy or gloom with Roth.