Pax Christi (1963) Hans Ittmann

photo Otto Snoek
About the artwork

Since 1963, this steel object made by artist Hans Ittmann has hung on the facade of the then Elout school. It is a Pax Christi mark and was made in the percentage scheme in the construction of the Christian school. The object is made of blue and white sheet steel. Ittmann has used artistic abstractions to depict Christian symbols, because before the XNUMXs this sculpture is quite sleek and modern. Ittmann was inspired by the artist Naum Gabo, to which he has given a Christian twist this time. The vertical in the middle forms the P with the letter A on the left and an abstract curled X on the right. Around it on the outside two blue-colored semicircles, or the letter C. Pax Christi is an international Catholic peace movement. Due to the demolition of the building the artwork April 2019 has been saved.

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About the artist

The Dutch sculptor and painter Hans Ittmann (Waalwijk, 1914 - Amsterdam, 1972) studied sculpture during the Second World War. His teacher was Cephas Stauthamer. After the war he studied international new developments. He traveled to Paris and worked for a year in Zadkine's studio - precisely during the period when Zadkine started his models for The destroyed city designed. Ittmann made the deformation of human forms the core of his work. He had a good eye for the avant-gardes of which he incorporated characteristics in his own style, but sometimes had difficulty developing his own visual language.

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