Frank Nix | Marble relief
Artist: Frank Nix (1934-2008)
Artwork: Marble Relief (1965)
Collection: Rotterdam municipal collection
Acquisition: Doelen percentage scheme for art
Batavia-born Frank Nix was commissioned by de Doelen as part of the Doelen percentage scheme for art. He was trained as an artist in Ghent and left for Rotterdam in 1963. For one of his first commissions in the Netherlands, Nix was given the western foyer wall to work on. He is best known for his memorial monument for Japanese women’s camps (1971) in Arnhem, and the Women of Ravensbrück memorial monument (1975) in Amsterdam. His decorations can also be found on the SS Rotterdam, which may have led to his being commissioned by de Doelen. His first large-scale monumental work in Rotterdam is a sight for sore eyes: a relief featuring musical motifs carved into the façade of the foyer, made out of the gorgeous Swiss Cristallina Virginio marble. The end result is astonishing. The relief is bold, yet unobtrusively integrated into the architecture of the building. The work may be hard to spot, but once you know it’s there, you’ll never carelessly pass it by again.
