2020 Hildo Krop Year
News — Nov 28, 2019
In 2020, it will be fifty years ago that Hildo Krop (1884-1970) passed away – he died in harness. Hildo Krop 2020 enables a considerable number of cultural organizations to reflect on Krop’s significance as an artist and an idealist.
TOWN SCULPTOR OF AMSTERDAM
Hildo Krop started out as a confectioner in the Dutch provincial town of Steenwijk. In 1906, however, he took the decision to leave his métier and embark on an artistic career.
After training and apprenticeship, his career got off to a flying start in 1913 thanks to a prestigious assignment at The Shipping House on the Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam.
Starting in 1916, Krop worked for the city of Amsterdam for forty years, on a part-time basis. So many of his works appear in the city’s public space that in 1956 he is awarded the honorary title of town sculptor of Amsterdam. Apart from his work for the city council, Krop works on commission and on his own sculptures in his private studio. He becomes well known, both in and outside Amsterdam.
WORK REPLETE WITH SYMBOLISM
Various partner organizations are working together to provide a many-sided programme during the Hildo Krop Year. Initiator Louise de Blécourt, curator of the Amrâth Collection at The Shipping House: ‘Hildo Krop’s rich artistic life is about more than sculpture. His work, replete with symbolism, testifies to this. At The Shipping House we find references to maritime history, to the sea, with for instance the head of Neptune with his trident crowning the main entrance. Krop decorated bridges and facades with mythical animals, mythological figures, or for instance personifications of trade and science. And then we have his individual sculptures in public space, such as his Mother Earth, which symbolizes the upward and downward forces of nature.’
The full programma can be found at www.artzuid.nl/hildo-krop. The Hildo Krop partners are:
HILDO KROP MUSEUM
The faun in the work of Hildo Krop’, exhibition, until the end of 2020
www.hildokrop.nl.
ARTZUID
Tour of facade sculpture by Hildo Krop and his contemporaries in Amsterdam Zuid, throughout 2020
www.artzuid.nl.
HET SCHIP, MUSEUM OF AMSTERDAM SCHOOL
Walking tours, bicycle tours, bus tours, workshops, and lectures, throughout 2020
STEDELIJK MUSEUM
From Thonet to Dutch Design: 125 years of living at the Stedelijk with work by Hildo Krop, exhibition May 2020–April 2021
ARCAM
Contemporary ornament, photo exhibition, summer of 2020
www.arcam.nl.
GRAND HOTEL AMRATH AMSTERDAM AT THE SHIPPING HOUSE
Exclusive arrangement full of art and history, March–November 2020
www.amrathamsterdam.nl.
KUNSTCONSULT - 20TH CENTURY ART | OBJECTS
Work by Hildo Krop, as long as stocks last. Publication of special Hildo Krop 2020 issue of Art Deco magazine
www.kunstconsult.nl.