Phillip King’s Quill returns to the Zuiderpark

The Quill by Phillip King (b. Tunisia, 1934) is a bit of the odd one out at its current location on the Parklaan, which is a stately avenue in the Scheepvaartkwartier (Maritime Quarter) with monumental nineteenth-century houses and the occasional bronze statue. A colourful, stylized sculpture, Quill is not done proper justice at this location, according to the Parklaan’s residents. That is why the Quill is being moved to the Zuiderpark in Rotterdam Zuid – the original site of Quill – in the spring.

From Zuiderpark to Parklaan and back again
The City of Rotterdam acquired the sculpture by King in 1973. The sculpture was installed in the Zuiderpark, where it gradually disappeared from view as the surroundings degenerated into untended overgrowth. In 1988 the sculpture was stored away in the municipal depot pending the selection of a suitable location. In 2003 the sculpture was moved to the Parklaan in the Scheepvaartkwartier (Maritime Quarter) and since then it has constituted part of the ‘Cultural Axis’ sculpture route, which runs from Rotterdam’s Central Station and across the River Meuse to Hotel New York, where Jeff Wall’s Lost Luggage can be seen. However, the Parklaan’s residents felt that the sculpture sat uncomfortably with the character of the avenue. Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR) therefore decided to remove the sculpture, restore it, and return it to the recently revamped Zuiderpark.

Phillip King
On 15 December 1972 the Mayor of Rotterdam put before the municipal council a proposal by the Urban Embellishment Committee (Commissie Stadsverfraaiing) that the city should acquire a sculpture by the British artist Phillip King. King was at that time one of the leading exponents of a new, abstract form of sculpture that emerged in England in the early 1960s. His work was exhibited worldwide. In the Netherlands his sculptures were presented at the Sonsbeek International Sculpture Exhibition in 1966 and in a retrospective of his work at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 1969. In 1971 the committee’s attention was drawn to Quill, an elegant construction of orange-red and yellow metal created that same year. The committee thought the sculpture was a fine example of King’s oeuvre.