Monsieur Jacques (1959)

Oswald Wenckebach

foto Gemeente Rotterdam

foto Gemeente Rotterdam

Monsieur Jacques at Expo '58 Brussel, photo J.A. Vrijhof

Monsieur Jacques at Expo '58 Brussel, photo J.A. Vrijhof

Oswald Wenckebach, The Critical Monsieur Jacques, collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Oswald Wenckebach, The Critical Monsieur Jacques, collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Monsieur Jacques with stains

Monsieur Jacques with stains

photo Pieter Vandermeer

photo Pieter Vandermeer

The artwork

Ever since the life-size sculpture Monsieur Jacques by Oswald Wenckebach has stood on the Coolsingel, many of Rotterdam’s inhabitants have taken it to their hearts. Monsieur Jacques is not a portrait of a real person but a representation of a self-satisfied middle-class man. Since 1959 he has stood on the same spot doing nothing but looking around him: his chest out, his nose held high, holding his hat behind his back.

The stylised male figure is highly simplified with few details. Monsieur Jacques wears an overcoat, although this is evident more from the silhouette than the detailing. His arms appear to have fused with his body. The model of the jacket is only summarily defined by several incised lines and raised areas that represent the placement of the lapels and the pockets. The trousers and shoes are also vaguely delineated.

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen owns a series of figure sketches by Oswald Wenckebach, each featuring Monsieur Jacques. Each of the drawings shows him in a different pose and with a different character or mood. The titles refer to events or situations in which Monsieur Jacques finds himself: attending a funeral, engaging in a political debate and as a tourist on holiday. When the sculpture was unveiled in the 1950s, many Dutch people recognised in it the stereotype of a Dutch middle-class man.

Year
1959
Location
Coolsingel 123
Dimensions
180 x 70 x 60 cm
Material
bronze
Client
Gemeente Rotterdam
Owner
Gemeente Rotterdam

The location

Three copies of the sculpture Monsieur Jacques exist. One cast was given on long-term loan by the State to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo in 1957. The Rotterdam copy has stood at the corner of the Binnenweg and the Coolsingel since 1959, where it was unveiled on the annual Opbouwdag in May by the alderwoman for the arts, Miss J. Zeelenberg. Since 2003, this Monsieur Jacques, along with sculptures by Thom Puckey, Pieter Starreveld and Shinkichi Tajiri, has been part of the ‘Coolsingel ensemble’. Various stories circulate about the sculpture’s name. One story reports that the sculpture titled Jacques op vakantie (Jacques on vacation), which depicts a lounging Jacques, reminded Wenckebach of the poet Jacques C. Bloem. Elsewhere, one supposes that when the figurine was shown as a Dutch entry at the Brussels – French-speaking – World Expo in 1958, people naturally began referring to the gentleman as Monsieur.

In addition to inevitable moves, the statue was removed from its spot several times by unauthorized persons. On the night of November 17-18, 1962, Monsieur Jacques was thrown from its pedestal out of wantonness. March 1963 it was put back in place, now more firmly anchored. On December 14, 1995, the responsible municipal official was forced to hear on the Rotterdam radio in the morning that the statue had been stolen the previous night by three individuals, who had made off with it while walking. Further down on Coolsingel, however, they were stopped by a police officer with the loot, after which the man-sized bronze statue was confiscated. The suspected prank resulted in a hefty restoration bill for the municipality: the pedestal had to be fitted with new bases and a crack had to be repaired on the statue itself.

Oswald Wenckebach

Oswald Wenckebach

Ludwig Oswald Wenckebach was born in 1895 in Heerlen. Around 1910 he began studying with his uncle, the painter Willem Wenckebach. He then received a classical art education at the Kunstnijverheidsschool in Haarlem and from 1914 to 1919 in Vienna. He painted and also made woodcuts, etching and lithographs. Upon his return to the Netherlands he settled in Schagen. There he became acquainted with the sculptor John Rädecker who encouraged him to take up sculpture. However, he did not entirely abandon the graphic art: in 1928 he designed a three-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Amsterdam Olympics.

Wenckebach was self-taught in sculpture. Initially he worked in the classical Greek tradition; he had been impressed by classical sculpture during a stay in Greece. He made sculptures for (the restoration of) buildings and statues and busts in stone and bronze. In 1935 he was appointed extraordinary professor in modelling and sculpture in the Department of Architecture at the Technische Hogeschool in Delft. After the Second World War Wenckebach made several war monuments (e.g. Alphen 1949, Haarlem 1949, Middelburg 1950). He also designed medals and coins such as the guilder minted in 1950 bearing the image of Queen Juliana.

It was not until the 1950s that Wenckebach gradually developed his own figurative style, abandoning the classical tradition with its heroic, athletic and therefore archaic figures. Gradually his figures took on their own character with a stylised design and a milder, more everyday, sometimes ironic personality. Wenckebach died in Noordwijkerhout in 1962.

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