Mask Head & Boy on Donkey (1931) Henk Chabot

photo Jacques Kleisterlee
About the artwork

In 1931, the Rotterdam city council commissioned four Rotterdam artists to make keystones for four bridges that would cross the Statensingel. The four Rotterdam artists were Herman Bieling, Leendert Bolle, Hendrik Chabot and Adriaan van der Plas. The sandstone keystones about 85 cm high are located on either side of the bridge. Sculptor Henk Chabot designed two keystones for the Van Aerssen Bridge, near Diergaarde Blijdorp. The eastern side of the bridge shows a mask head. The other side shows the keystone of a Boy on donkey, but because of Diergaarde Blijdorp it is less visible. The four bridges have been designated as municipal monuments. See here the keystones made on the other bridges by Herman Bieling, Leendert Bolle en Adriaan van der Plas.

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About the artist

Hendrik Chabot (Sprang, 1894 - Rotterdam, 1949) is an expressionist artist. He is best known as a painter, but was also active as a sculptor in the twenties and thirties of the last century. He was friends with other famous artists, including Charley Toorop. He is seen as one of the most important representatives of expressionism in the Netherlands. Probably his best-known work The Rotterdam fire.

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