Willem Nijs - You are: Temple

Etching by Willem Nijs. Temple. Dimensions sheet incl passe-partout: H40 x w30cm. Dimensions image: H8 x w10cm. The work is monogrammed at the bottom right by the artist. The authenticity of the work offered is fully guaranteed. A certificate of authenticity can be emailed upon request.

Upon purchase, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The period for collection, with advance payment, is very generous, in other words, the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the above-mentioned cities or the beach. The work can also be shipped. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.

Wim or Willem Nijs was a son of office clerk Weijnandt Johannes Nijs and Anna Maria Willeman. He was educated at the Academy of Fine and Technical Arts in Rotterdam as a pupil of Lambertus Franciscus Edema van der Tuuk and Simon Miedema (1923-1925).[2] He was trained as a sculptor, but later developed into a painter and graphic artist. Nijs was a member of Arti et Amicitiae.

In addition to architectural sculpture, Nijs also made small religious sculptures, including Sacred Heart statues and crucifixes. From the first half of the thirties, Nijs designed paraments, such as copes and triptychs, and mourning carpets that were made by the embroidery studio of JL Sträter. He regularly participated in religious exhibitions at home and abroad. In 1937, he made The Resurrection , a statue of Christ, commissioned by the Dutch government for the World Exhibition in Paris.

War years

Nijs had gotten into financial trouble during the crisis years. He decided to join the NSB in June 1940, because he expected that nationalism would improve the position of artists. He also joined the Dutch Chamber of Culture. Commissioned by the PTT, he designed the Legion stamps in 1942, stamps "for the benefit of the provision fund of the Dutch Legion". Nijs was a member of the Voluntary Auxiliary Police for a while (1942-1943) and assigned to the WA. He requested his discharge because he did not consider himself suited for that work as an artist. He did not complete assignments he received for a bust of Anton Mussert, an assignment from the Department of Public Information and Arts, and a statue of a German eagle. In 1944, Nijs designed stamps for Winterhulp and the NVD. After the war, Nijs was arrested (May 1945) and sentenced to fourteen months in prison. He served his sentence in various detention camps.

In 1960 Nijs had another solo exhibition with etchings and drawings in Museum Huis van Looy. He died the following year, at the age of 58, and was buried in the Westerveld cemetery