Untitled (1941) Cor van Kralingen
This series of decorative facing bricks were made for the latest extension of the Vreewijk garden village, namely the De Vaan garden village, located between Dordtsestraatweg and Vaanweg. The name is derived from the Vaandrager family, who used to own an estate with a farm. The garden village was built during the Second World War. Sculptor Cor van Kralingen made a series of ceramic reliefs, about nature, farm life and seasons. He did this in a figurative style, which was somewhat more stylized in some reliefs than in others. The facing bricks measuring approximately 50 x 60 cm can be found on the ends of terraced houses throughout Vreewijk. They are installed in the masonry and positioned at eye level. They match the village character of the garden village. The works of art thus complement the ideas of Granpré Molière, who developed this garden village as a village in the city. A total of 12 reliefs can be found, namely 'Sower', 'Girl with lamb', 'The hunter', 'Vaandrager', 'Finches',' Leaves', 'Donkey', 'Tree planter', 'Vink', ' Hen with chicks', 'Two hens' and' Girl with wreath '.
Cor van Kralingen (Rotterdam, 1908 - Mijnsheerenland, 1977) was a sculptor and illustrator. Between 1935 and 1960 he made many pen drawings for the Varagids and publishing house Thieme. During the reconstruction period, Van Kralingen was able to design reliefs and facing bricks in Rotterdam. He designed it Twentsch Ros (1948) on the roof of the then Twentsche Bank on the Blaak and the eight animal figures of the Hofplein fountain (1955). He also made a number of war monuments, such as Falling man (1951) en Woman with pigeon (1965) at the war graves on Cemetery Crooswijk, and the Ttraveling woman (1958) on the Goereesestraat in Charlois. His style was characterized as invariably figurative. He liked simplicity and a classically oriented beauty.