Spider

 Art in Amsterdam

Sculpture

 One from the Archives in Amsterdam.

Little Boy

 "Little Boy on the waterfront " is a sculpture in  Weesp made by  artist Burney Bavelaar dating from 2010. The boy is looking at a little boat he made of a wooden shoe with a sail. Linking to "Shadow Shot Sunday"

Statue

A statue of "Andre Hazes" (1951-2004) who was a popular singer of the Dutch "levenslied" genre, popular music about everyday life sung in the Dutch language.

He was born in the Amsterdam "De Pijp"area where his statue is placed.

At the age of eight he was discovered singing at the Albert Cuyp Market, here just around the corner.

His further career you can read "here".

Folk singers

The "Jordaan" is one of the eldest and well known working class neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. Many folk singers with the typical Amsterdam accent have grown up here. As a tribute to them these statues have been placed at the Johnny Jordaan square.

From left to right, Manke Nelis, Tante Leen, Johnny Jordaan, Johnny Meijer and Tante Mien with Bolle Jan. 

Looking up

When passing the Muntsquare in Amsterdam  I looked up and noticed a little sculpture under the balcony.

With a closer look  it happened to be a screaming woman dating from 1895 and made by Lambertus van Zijl. The building is of architect Berlage. He liked to decorate his buildings with sculptures, this one hidden so high up,  I had never seen before. She seems to warn you to be careful at the crowded square. Linking to "Our World Tuesday"

Sculpture

A sculpture group named Ämphitrite and Triton made by Albert P. Termote (1956) at the KNSM island in Amsterdam.

The sculpture group was created on te occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Royal Dutch Steamship Company.

Shadow

Some sculptures seems so real, as if they walk with you. Seen in Amsterdam. Linking to

 "Shadow Shot Sunday2"

Skywatch

At a bridge near the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam has this sculpture of a bridge keeper made by Hildo Krop, and is placed on a 8 metres high pedestal. There are two of them at each side of the bridge since 1928 when the Olympic games took place here. Linking to "Skywatch Friday"

Black sculpture

A side entrance of the former stock exchange building has a sculpture which unfortunately has become very dirty by polluted air in the centre of Amsterdam.

It is an image of "Hugo de Groot" (1583-1645) a Dutch jurist and writer.

Have a look "here" for a better image before it had become black.

Buddha

This Buddha statue was sent in 1872 by a captain in a mechant navy who temporarily lived in Yokohama,  to the Amsterdam Zoo Artis. His brother was curator of the Zoo. The Zoo bought the statue and it is still there.

Three figures in the street.

This bronze figure is part of three walking people in the street to the Westerpark.

in Amsterdam. They represent the connection between a square and the park.

They date from 2001 and are made by sculptor Peter Erftemeijer.

The third one has reached the park behind him. Linking to "Our World Tuesday"

Erasmus

A sculpture of  "Desiderius Erasmus" (1466-1536) in Gouda.  He was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher and theologian. He was the second son of a priest at the Saint Jans Church in Gouda, grew up there and studied in the nearby monastery of Steyn. Gouda honours him with this sculpture in the town of his youth.

Here a painting of him made by Hans Holbein in 1523.

Linking to "Our World Tuesday"

Sailor

At the Kattenburger square in front of the Shipping Museum you can find this applicable sculpture "The Sailing Man" made by artist "Alphons Freijmuth" (1940). It is made out of steel with the silhouette of a sailor, a sailingship and a wave. Linking to "Signs, signs"

Lazy Sunday

A relaxed stretched sculpture in Amsterdam.

A statue with a story

To get a statue after your death like this is really a shame I think.  Who can see you up there?

It is called "the Column of Lely". Cornelis Lely was the architect of the Flevopolders and this city Lelystad has his name. The 30 m high column is made of basalt boulders and symbolize the boulders where the dikes around the Flevopolders are made of.

Here a closer look of Lely. 

The column and the statue are made by two different artists. The one who made the statue Piet Esser, was not satisfied with the result ( I can imagine) and had his statue removed. This one is a replica of a statue made by the late "Mari Andriessen".

This is the original statue of Lely that was removed of the column and replaced in another part of the city Lelystad. This photo I made earlier in 2015, had no idea about the story behind.

Molly Malone

This is Molly Malone a woman from Dublin who sold cockles and mussels in her barrow in the streets of Dublin. Molly is a legend who lived probably around 1680 and has be sung by various Irish artists.

It is said that except the fish,  she sold herself as well and died in the streets of a disease. The song about her is so famous in Dublin and beyond that she got her own statue in 1988. Here is a link about her life with all kind of theories.

And this is the song by "the Dubliners".
It is a catchy song that keeps in you head when you have listened to it.

Multatuli

This is a statue of a famous Dutch writer "Multatuli" (1820-1887), Latin for "I suffered a lot",  is the pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker. He was born close to this place where his statue is placed. Following his experience as an administrater in the then Batavia (now Djakarta) in the Indies, he wrote his novel "Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trade Company". The book was intended as an indictment of the abuses in Batavia.

In 1987, on the occasion of Multatuli's hundreth anniversary, Queen Beatrix unveiled this statue made by Hans Bayens (1924-2003) at the Torensluis (Tower lock) in Amsterdam.

Another visiter who was also photographing here pointed me out at the big square of different cobblestones. This marks the place where a big tower had stood in the past until 1829,  the so called Jan Roodenpoorts tower. That is the reason this is the widest bridge in the city.

On the internet I found a picture of the former tower.

One of the children from my post of yesterday had also noticed the statue and made a good resembling  drawing of it.

Landscape Art

Balancing on the interface between land and water, a 25-metre tall squatting man looks out over the Markerlake from the city of Lelystad. In the open landscape this human figure is a landmark in the Flevopolder. With "Exposure", the British artist Antony Gormley (1950) made the sixth Land Art Project in Flevoland since the start of it in 1977.

The sculpture is made out of 1.8000 unique steel bars with a total weight of 44.000 kg and was placed her in 2010.

It is quite impressive to walk between his feet and have a look up.

At a foggy day like yesterday he seems to fade away. 

As with  many sculptures people make up their own name for it and this one is called the "Poepende Man"  (defecating Man) which is an appropiate nickname I think.

Mandela

At the art exhibition "ARTZUID 2013 in Amsterdam  this head made of wood I hadn't recognized as the image of Nelson Mandela at once. It is made by Jems Robert Koko Bi from the Ivory Coast in Africa.

The artist made the head of wooden pallet blocks to express his admiration for Nelson Mandela.