Harry Sengers | ‘Het spaarpotje van Jurriaanse’
Artist: Harry Sengers (1948-2015)
Art work: Spaarpot J.E. Jurriaanse (2006), foto entree Jurriaanse Zaal (2024)
Translated: Money box J.E. Jurriaanse (2006), photo entrance Jurriaanse Zaal (2024)
Collection: de Doelen
Acquisition: Tanneke Barendrecht and de Doelen Steunfonds
Throughout his life, visual artist Harry Sengers collected objects from the city of Rotterdam, which he incorporated into his photographic still lifes and installations. For him, objects were not mere things, but objects that say something about time, life and light. He told the stories behind the objects. Sengers made long wanderings through the city, looked at and photographed old factories, demolished buildings, sifted through bulky waste and enjoyed flea markets. He searched, in his own words, 'for traces of life'. Sengers called rubbish bins 'biographies' and flea markets 'treasure places'. Nothing was allowed to disappear unnoticed.
Things tell stories. To show this, Sengers worked with light, daylight. Everywhere he saw light and dark. He was, wrote art historian Frits Gierstberg, a master printer: 'Sengers attached great importance to the highlights and deep blacks in his black-and-white prints. He put a huge amount of time into making it. He was a perfectionist: not a speck of fabric, not a dot, not a glimmer was allowed to be in the picture'.
This perfectionism is also visible in the large photo that has been hanging at the entrance of the Jurriaanse Hall since 2024. In 2006, Sengers photographed a special object with traces of a life: a piggy bank. This is how he portrayed Jan Jurriaanse (1906-1991). Jurriaanse was the owner of a tool factory. After his death, his assets were transferred to the J.E. Jurriaanse Foundation. Since then, the Foundation has been supporting cultural and social projects and organisations. The Foundation also contributed to the Doelen and the Jurriaanse Zaal was named after this wealthy art patron.
'The piggy bank' is not only a beautiful photo, but also a story. Everyone starts small, or so the photo seems to tell.
The acquisition of this work was made possible by:
