Life and Death (Leven en dood)

About this artwork.

Life and Death has the subtitle The soul bird is given freedom (de zielevogel krijgt de vrijheid). On a brick/concrete pedestal lies a naked bronze man who stretches to free the bird in his hand. The shape of the pedestal is striking. It evokes associations with a coffin.

The sculpture was donated to the Crematorium in 1962 by the Groningen department of the Vereniging voor Facultatieve Crematie. This was done to celebrate the opening.

The creator of this moulded sculpture, Anne Dekking-van Haeften, began her career as an artist around 1925 by drawing portraits. Later she switched to modelling human figures and making sculptures. In order to learn to sculpt properly, the artist stayed in Paris from 1952 to 1953. She took lessons from the famous sculptor Karl Longuet there.

In 1956 she was awarded her first commissions for sculptures. Some of her most famous works are Ot and Sien, Affect (Tasten) — both are located in Groningen — and the war memorial in Delfzijl.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Anna Dekking-van Haeften

• District
  Zernike

• Year of creation
  1962

• Art type
  Freestanding sculpture

• Material
  Bronze

• Dimensions
  h 2,00 m