AMSTERDAM.- On Saturday 30 May at 4 pm, Carolijn Visser, author of the recently published book Broers, will open the exhibition with a brief introduction and presentation of her book.

Carel Visser (1928-2015) is considered one of the most important sculptors in post-war Netherlands. Whilst most of his contemporaries continued to work within academic figuration after the war, Visser chose early on to pursue an ever more radical abstraction. His work from the 1960s and 1970s connects with international developments such as Minimal Art.

His oeuvre encompasses not only sculptures but also drawings, collages, reliefs and woodcuts. He transformed industrial materials into rhythmic compositions, creating tension between the mechanical and the natural. Although iron and steel were his favoured materials, he drew on an exceptionally wide range of substances, including glass, cardboard, wood and aluminium, as well as birds' eggs, horn, wool, feathers and shells.

The gallery exhibition focuses on sculptures from the 1960s and graphite drawings made between 1972 and 1991, most of which have not been shown since 1990. Visser's drawings and collages are closely aligned with his sculptural work. They are cool, carefully constructed pieces, built up in layers of graphite that lend them a metallic sheen. As in his sculptures, the graphic work is governed by a balance between contrast and affinity: the man-made set against the natural, weightlessness alongside volume, great strength alongside apparent fragility.

Visser represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale in 1968 and that same year participated in Documenta 4. His work is held in collections including the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Kröller-Müller Museum, Tate and MoMA.

This summer, Carel Visser takes centre stage with a major exhibition in the gardens of the Rijksmuseum. Thirteen monumental sculptures have been brought together for the occasion. The exhibition is free to visit from 5 June to 25 October 2026.