Artwork Data
Title
Zittende vrouw
Artist
Year
1963
Material
natuursteen / kalksteen
Dimensions
200 cm
Partial collection
Artwork Location
Address
Westbroekpark, Den Haag
City district
Scheveningen
GPS data
52.1041045555284, 4.28860892165618 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
Initially he worked a lot in stone, but 'I stopped using stone because it was no longer affordable,' says sculptor Theo van der Nahmer in an interview with Max Danser for Pulchri magazine in 1982. He switched to the cire perdue method, with which he formed the sculpture in wax and later cast it in metal. Because of this wax method, I could suddenly do what I wanted. Then I could get loose. This explains why only a few of his many sculptures from The Hague are made of stone.
In stone, the sculptor obtained a different result than in wax. With wax, Van der Nahmer made his sculptures supple and smooth in a light and airy style. With literal sculpting, he chopped rather robust and static forms out of the stone. And where Van der Nahmer with his bronzes visibly paid much attention to detail, the accent with his stone sculptures and reliefs lies on the grand gesture.
And that is the charm of his limestone sculpture in the Westbroek Park. Sitting woman' has her arms crossed, the child on top. She proudly holds her head back. Apart from a pronounced nose and almond-shaped eyes, the face is sparsely detailed. Here, the artist has worked in large planes and simple shapes. He has stylised the shapes in such a way that they reveal their basic geometrical forms, such as the cube, the rectangle, the circle and the oval.
Someone may have been a model for Van der Nahmer. But then the sculptor certainly had no intention of immortalising his model in a recognisable manner. By simplifying the form, an archaic mother figure emerged. In this way, Van der Nahmer has created - regardless of time or trends - a primal mother, a symbol in which every mother can recognise herself for years to come.