The family (1963) Huib Noorlander

photo BKOR archive
About the artwork

This is the kind of image that shows the family as the cornerstone of society. Father embraces the slightly smaller mother and child. They stand with their backs to the street and stare into the distance, undisturbed by the bird droppings on their heads from the birds in the hanging branches. With its stillness, the image appears to be a kind of contemplative monument. Partly because of its location in the (flower) bed, but it was not set up with that aim. The placement was made possible through collaboration between the Rotterdam Art Foundation, Residents Fund Zuidwijk and a number of Rotterdam contractors who had participated in the construction activity in Rotterdam South. Mayor Van Walsem accepted the image of the Stichting Wijkopbouw Zuidwijk, which had taken the initiative to establish the image on the occasion of the completion of the housing construction in Zuidwijk. At the opening of a residential building for the elderly on September 21, 1963, the mayor revealed The family, a sculpture by artist Huib Noorlander executed in French limestone. After being damaged, a bronze cast was made from the original plaster working model, which was replaced in 1989.

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About the artist

Huib Noorlander (Schiebroek, 1928 - Nijmegen, 2004) was a figurative sculptor. In 1951 he founded the artist group together with Louis van Roode, Jan Burgerhout, Kees French, Jan Goedhart, Charles Kemper and Ed van Zanden Argus on. On the occasion of the 100 anniversary of the Holland America Line, he made a picture of it Cauldron Twinkle (1973). A replica of this has been in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam since 1998. A reduced version is awarded annually as a Ketelbinkie prize. Various images of Noorlander can be found in Rotterdam. Reading girl en The family were originally made of natural stone, but after being damaged a bronze cast was made of both statues. In the 1960s, Noorlander and artist Joeki Simak formed the most famous artist couple in Rotterdam.

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