Art Now

"Art Now" shows a new work from the EUR art collection every two weeks. Art Now, digitally on the screen, for inspiration, as consolation, imagination, reflection or as a distraction and extender of reality.

Dick Elffers ‘Rotterdam in Keramiek’ (1969) - material: ceramic - Diameter: approx. 2 meters
EUR Art Collection - location: next to the main entrance of the Erasmus Building

For many years, it was believed that the large artwork Rotterdam in Keramiek (1969) was designed by sculptor Piet van Stuijvenberg (1901-1988). However, recent research has revealed that the true designer was not Van Stuijvenberg, but artist Dick Elffers (1910 -1990). The circular ceramic plaque, measuring approximately two meters in diameter, is composed of multiple segments, and is set into the concrete wall beside the main entrance of the Erasmus Building. The artwork presents a stylized map of Rotterdam along the River Maas, featuring three red markers. These markers refer to the three historical locations of the predecessor of Erasmus University Rotterdam: the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool (NHH), later the Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool (NEH). The locations include the Beursgebouw on Blaak (from 1913), the school on Pieter de Hoochweg (from 1916), and the Woudestein campus (from 1968 onwards). Rotterdam in Keramiek is a so-called 'building-bound' artwork and is therefore part of the monument Woudestein.

Dick Cassee – CONSTRUCTION IN CIRKEL 1, 1967 dry needle etching, diameter 24 cm - EUR Art collection (purchased in 1969)

Dick Cassee (1931-2023) is considered a leading representative of Dutch abstract-geometric art and one of the most prominent graphic artists in the Netherlands. He was born in Boemendaal and studied at the AKI in Enschede from 1950 to 1954, where the famous architect Aldo van Eyck was one of his teachers. In 1961, he worked in Stanley Hayter's influential Atelier 17 studio in Paris, an experience that led him to focus more on dry needle etchings. Cassee's work is primarily abstract and geometric, characterized by monochrome tones. It is known for its serenity and technical mastery. Landscapes and desolate environments were important sources of inspiration for him. He often made sketches on-site, repeatedly drawing his subjects to "take the form with him," which he later developed further in his studio. Despite the abstract nature of Cassee's work, the images are always deeply rooted in the observation of nature.

Henk Huig, De identiteitscrisis van Tielse Flip, 1967 - acrylic on linnen (11 parts), 242 x 262 cm Art Collection EUR, restored in 2016, present location first floor Polak building campus Woudestein.

On the ground floor in the Polak building hangs the 1967 painting ‘The identity crisis of Tiel's Flip’ by artist Henk Huig (1934, Amsterdam). 

Henk Huig was a versatile artist. He was educated at the arts and crafts school in the early fifties and then travelled to Turkey and Iran. He became a graphic artist and painter and was often photographed himself with his work due to his striking posture as a bodybuilder. In the fifties he worked as a graphic artist, traditionally realistic, a bit tame. That changed when he started painting in the early sixties, in a quiet tone and clear division of surfaces, with nature as theme. From an Expressionistic grounded, lyrical-graphic style he switched via gouaches to collages to a New Realist painting in which a certain pop-surrealism struck. For this he was awarded the Amsterdamse Havenprijs in 1967 and the Koninklijke Subsidie voor de Schilderkunst in 1968. Humour, wordplay and references to Pop Art return in his work with which he wants to portray the modern man of his time. Absurdist comics’ is the headline of a newspaper at the time. These characteristics are clearly reflected in the work in EUR that must have been made during those heydays. Working with patterns and emptiness, flat and 3D, his paintings become powerful semi-pop-like compositions, reminiscent of Zekveld's pop art. The work must be from 1968 or before: at the end of 1968 the art committee of the EUR decided to accept the loan from architect Dunnebier. He bought the painting, had no room for it, and gave it on loan to the NEH for five years, after which the EUR purchased it in 1997.

Text - Sandra Smets (from art historical description of highlights art route EUR).

Silvia B., ‘Hazels's Spring’, 2024 - Size 105 x 190 x 190 cm. - Mixed media

Silvia B. on her own work:‘My latest series stems from the balancing act of contemporary life. A series reflecting on both the drama and the joy of human life on earth in the Anthropocene. In the sculptures of the Entanglement series the boundaries between nature and culture become fluid. The bare skin of debarked trees blends seamlessly into that of human adolescent body parts, intertwining both their vulnerability and their will to live.’

Silvia B.'s artworks from the Entanglement series, including the work Hazel's Spring (2024) shown here, are on display at the Erasmus Gallery on campus Woudestein until 10 March 2025.

*The Anthropocene is the most recent geological epoch in Earth's history, in which humans have become the most influential species and have a significant impact on the planet's climate and ecosystems].

Richard Lohse – ‘Systematische Farbreihe’, z.j. – silkscreen, 55 x 55 cm EUR Art collection (purchased in 1969)

Artist Richard Lohse (1902-1988) was a Swiss painter and graphic artist and is seen as an important representative of the constructive art movements of the 20th century. Due to his difficult economic circumstances, he could not go to study. At a young age he joined an advertising agency, where he was trained to be an advertising designer. Within a short time, his success enabled him to establish his own graphic design studio. He standardized pictorial means and began to develop modular and serial systems. In 1943 he broke through in the art world. Lohse combined art with a strong political and moral awareness. As an activist, he stood up for immigrants and was involved in (illegal) protests. His political beliefs led him to the resistance movement. Lohse's works consist of systematic, two-dimensional laminar planes of integrating color elements in different logical/mathematical relationships. They are based on structure and color and on how we perceive them, with each element playing an equal qualitative/equally important role.