The forgotten bombing (1993) Mathieu Ficheroux

photo Otto Snoek
About the artwork

The monument The forgotten bombing commemorates the bombing in 1943, which was mistakenly carried out by the Allies on the harbor basin to the east of the Schiedam shipyard Wilton-Feijenoord. The bombs fell on the south bank of the border of the Nieuwe Waterweg and the Maas; the Wilhelminahaven, the Keilehaven and the Lekhaven were bombed. The bombs fell on houses along Schiedamseweg, Rozener Manzstraat and Mathenesserweg, up to Marconiplein. Fifty years later it was decided to erect a monument to commemorate the bombing. The working group 'Het Vergeten Bombardement' wanted to create a lasting memory in the form of a monument. Three artists made a proposal for this monument: Mathieu Ficheroux, Paul Cox and René Verouden. Their designs were presented to the residents of Bospolder-Tussendijken. Ultimately, the design by Ficheroux was chosen. His monument consists of the figures that together form the date of the bombing, March 31, 1943. It is made of corten steel and is scattered in the grass, as if hit by a bomb. Ficheroux tried to approach the assignment in a contemplative, introverted way. His monument is modest and free from pathos. On March 31, 1993, then Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers unveiled The forgotten bombing.

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About the artist

Mathieu Ficheroux (Rotterdam, 1926 - Rotterdam, 2003) studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. In 1969 he was awarded the Rotterdam Hendrik Chabot Prize. Eroticism and alienation formed a thematic undertone in Ficheroux 'pink and brown paintings, his plastic objects and his light reliefs (sleeping pieces) in the XNUMXs. In the XNUMXs he depicted transience in frames and damaged paintings. Since the eighties, Ficheroux again concentrated mainly on painting and drawing.

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