acquisitions

The assignment to Berger was to produce a bronze that would be a symbol for the new Zuiderzee Museum: a modern organization with contemporary museological values, yet deeply rooted in heritage and history. The starting point for the sculpture, which weighs more than 200 kilos, was Torso Belvedère, one of the most important symbols in the visual arts, if not in the whole of art. The gyration and musculature have been copied on many occasions, even by renowned artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Berger made a plaster cast of the original torso and stretched a 100% cast of his own skin across this.

Larger than Life
Earlier this year, Annick Vroom made the film Larger than Life on the development of the concept for this artwork and the train of thought of the Museum management. The journey takes the sculptor and the Museum director to cities in Italy, the country from which Caspar Berger drew his inspiration and where the favourite museum of Zuiderzee Museum director Erik Schilp can be found.

Caspar Berger
Sculptor Caspar Berger graduated from the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht in 1992. He has been working mainly with bronze for the past ten years. Much of his inspiration comes from the Italian high-Renaissance, and Berger translates this visual language to present-day expression. He shapes his ideas by means of silicon casts of models and casts of his own skin.

BankGiro Loterij
The Caspar Berger project was made possible thanks to a generous donation from the BankGiro Loterij, which supports organizations that work on the preservation and enrichment of cultural heritage. In doing so, this is the Netherlands’ most culture-oriented lottery. Participants in the BankGiro Loterij collectively contributed more than 106 million Euro in 2007. Half of this sum (more than 53 million Euro) is freely available for financial support to cultural organizations. For more information, please see www.bankgiroloterij.nl.