Pieter Starreveld | Museum Beelden aan Zee | Beeldhouwkunst in Den Haag

Pieter Starreveld

12 november 2022 - 12 february 2023

Pieter Starreveld

Artisan Classicist

Pieter Starreveld (1911-1989) was a versatile sculptor who worked in the tradition of classical sculpture. For him, artistry and craftsmanship formed an inseparable unity: the task of the sculptor was to represent visible reality and, above all, to emphasize the beauty of that reality. He thus chose completely for figurative art and saw nothing in experimental developments in sculpture in the twentieth century. At the beginning of his working life, Starreveld mainly carved in various materials, then in the fifties he began to cast bronze works, from 1963 in his own foundry in Amersfoort.

Between 1945 and 1957 he made no fewer than 23 monuments commemorating World War II, in which he depicted mostly women, because he believed that women have a stronger emotional life than men and are therefore the appropriate figure in a monument that appeals to feeling. He saw women not only as embodiments of beauty, but also of love, care and freedom.

Other themes in his work are portraits and animals. From the earliest beginnings he carved in wood, limestone or marble very classical hushed portraits of both children and adults, later his work becomes more expressive in tone. In his animal sculptures he mainly tries to depict the vitality and movement of animals in free space. Besides birds, horses are among his favorite subjects: in the series of foals and horses a development can be seen from very naturalistic to more stylized works.

In his last active years, Starreveld focused mainly on small sculptures: figurines made of bronze or chamotte and a large number of reliefs, playing with various angles.

The exhibition in the museum's cabinet from November 12, 2022 to February 12, 2023 features a broad overview of work by this extraordinary skilled sculptor.