Fruit principle (1970) Chris Elffers
For the new Ommoord neighborhood, on Hammarskjoldplaats, the Rotterdam artist Chris Elffers made this colorful, dynamic sculpture Fruit principle. Elffers made many monumental works in the Netherlands. This is an early work in which he combined steel and bronze. Later he mainly started working with only bronze. In the context of urban embellishment, the work has been placed near high-rise buildings from the XNUMXs. From the book Art in Ommoord (2009): “The sculptor Chris Elffers still remembers the literal assignment, because he found the description actually hurtful for the residents:“ Make a statue at the 3rd municipal home for disabled elderly in Ommoord ”. Those were the residents of Oldenoord at the time. The residents of that time no longer live there. The building, with blue and yellow balconies, right in front of the statue was renovated years ago into a 55+ complex. In the XNUMXs, Elffers was strongly inspired by anthroposophy. At that time, for example, he was involved in founding the Free School in Krimpen aan den IJssel. ”
Chris Elffers (Zandvoort, 1926 – Krimpen aan den IJssel, 2018) studied sculpture at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam with professors Mari Andriessen and Piet Esser. As a sculptor he contributed part-time to the restoration of the Laurenskerk. In 1958 he was given a studio on the Nesserdijk, where sculptor Huib Noorlander also had his workshop. Elffers made various sculptures for the public space in Rotterdam. He lived for years in Kralingen and Krimpen aan den IJssel, where he died in 2018.