The Horizon (2004) Cor Kraat

photo Otto Snoek
About the artwork

Since 2004, there has been a relief made by the Rotterdam artist Cor Kraat on the facade of the former Rotterdam Seamen's House on the Westerstraat. The Zeemanshuis used to be a place where passing sailors used to stay. Kraat was asked to make a design for the facade. He made a large, stainless steel wall sculpture of a sailor looking ahead with his binoculars. The Horizon is a recognizable image for everyone. Below the work there is a sign on the wall with the text: “The target of the canal is always on or behind the horizon”.

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About the artist

Cor Kraat (Rotterdam, 1946) was educated at the Rotterdam Academy of Art from 1965 to 1971. From 1979 to 1992, Kraat worked in the artists' collective Kunst & Vaarwerk with Hans Citroen and Willem van Drunen. Kunst & Vaarwerk focused on monumental art in the city. Between 1979 and 1983 Cor Kraat taught screen printing at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Kraat was also co-founder of the Black Cat gallery, a gallery for contemporary visual art on the Mauritsweg from 1978 to 1987.

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