IDA KLEITERP (1948) SCULPTOR, AMSTERDAM (NL)

Flower-Island This composition of several flower sculptures is called Flower-Island. Are they flowers indeed? At the first glance these figures are more like sea anemones. They are open and friendly and they radiate a kind of warmth, inspite of the fact that they have been carved from stone, a material usually associated with caracteristics properties such as coldness and hardness. Frozen sea anemones. Some leaves lift up from the ground as if cought in a rocking movement. The waves of the water are still visible in their present pose as an instantaneous exposure of a photograph, these anemones are frozen in a movement which could have continued forever. That these organic forms of the sculptures are easily labelled as typically female is obvious. But that is too simple a conclusion. The stones are also big, massive and heavy. Most stones moreover have an unmangeable surface: a rough, corrugated texture. The sculptures incorporate various contrasts and discrepancies thus excluding one univocal interpretation. One could also see a surrealistic landscape of creatures in this flower island. Creatures originating from the imagination, forming a very typical, non-exixting world. A number of sculptures were carved in a grey limestone from which most paving stones are made in everyday life. This Belgian limestone consist of different layers and fossils, thus offering a wide range of shades and colours. Other sculptures were carved in marble from Italy and Portugal. Together they form a lovely palette of hues and colours which are both very different but also related. The longer the sculptures are observed, the more they come alive. But it is not so simple as that, The miystery grows at the same time. Where does this leaf with the sharp crenation come from? Is it a leaf broken off a long stem, the so called „pater familias"? Or has it landed there among its own round sort by accident? As in a family mutual relations become visible. The three fat stems are mytyeriously bent towards each other, as it they were hatching a plot against others. The black sheep is different from the rest in its angular and abstract form. But it is also proud and lonesome. The sculptures offer freedom for imagination. Ida Kleiterp herself treats them as flowers. Flowers have various meanings for her. First of all, she loves the beauty of flowers. She is also aware of a long tradition of flower ornaments in sculpture and flowers in the art of painting. Especially old Dutch masters excelled in colourfull still-lives. For her flowers are a metaphor for vulnerability in life. A flower is beautiful and delicate, but its life is short. Is there a better way than to shape this idea in a massive age old stone? Jacqueline Oskamp, journalist, Nov 1997