World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 517 - Mary Bezembinder

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 517 – Mary Bezembinder

Not so long ago (2024) I saw beautiful sculptures by Mary Bezembinder in the Leonorazaal of the Haagse Kunstkring. I visited her in her studio in De Rade, in The Hague – Southwest.

It is a live-work space. It is in the middle of many other studios, also all live-work spaces of artists. They were former shops. In total there are 17/18 artists.

On the square in front of the studios there are various works of art, including some by Mary Bezembinder.

Neighbourhood chat benches (BuurtBabbelBankjes)

Among other things, a square bench in green around a tree with people in orange, pink, blue, yellow and purple holding each other by the arms as a backrest. “The bench, ‘BuurtBabbelBankje’ has been there since 2013,” says Mary. “When the weather is nice, the neighbours like to come here to chat. The birds also like to come and let all sorts of things go. I clean it regularly.” A little further on is a sculpture of hers (2010) in corten steel of a dancing couple.

Catchy forms

Inside the fairly large space is full of sculptures and paintings; more sculptures than paintings because Mary is primarily a sculptor, a sculptor of the female body. Mary: “I call it my female torsos. It was also on display at the Hague Art Circle. Sometimes it becomes abstract, because the stone asks for it, but usually it ends up as female torsos.”

Mary: “I can’t really explain where this fascination comes from. I sell a kind of shame, or I’m already past shame. It also comes from the fact that I grew up in the sixties of the last century in a time when freedom was a great thing. I found and find these forms beautiful, catchy forms.”

Marble

She prefers to work in marble. “I think marble is a beautiful material, it exudes toughness. Soapstone, which I also use sometimes, creates soft shapes. Alabaster is somewhere in between, it is a beautiful material to work with. I also make wooden sculptures and combinations of stone and wood, they are both products from the mountains.”

It is mainly spatial work, she has let go of the flat work. A little further on is a statue of Turkish marble, ‘Verdiet’, of which a piece of marble has been left unworked at the top. “It shows transience and imperfection. Nobody is perfect.”

A quest

She started with tapestries. And then she switched to screen printing, she says. “I attended the Royal Academy of Art for two years, I switched to the Free Academy Psychopolis (Vrije Academie Psychopolis), because I didn’t feel comfortable at the Royal Academy. After those two years, you had to make a choice, while I was curious about all disciplines. At the Free Academy Psychopolis, also in The Hague, then still in De Gheijnstraat, I learned various disciplines: not only screen printing, but also etching, bronze casting, wooden sculptures, lithographs, welding, drawing, painting and carving in stone. A real quest. What suits me? I stuck with the last discipline.”

In her studio she does the preparations: sketches and a small version in clay. The actual carving of the raw material is done in a studio on the Valkensboskade. In between the sculpting she makes paintings in corten steel. “That’s what I call this technique, playing with shapes.”

Sculptors

Which sculptors appeal to her? “Willem Hussem, an artist from The Hague, made beautiful abstract sculptures. Henry Moore is a fantastic artist, Camille Claudel, Rodin’s wife/girlfriend, made beautiful works, but a bit too smooth, you don’t see a single dent, which you do see with Johan Tahon, a Belgian sculptor. I am a great fan of his, he works with plaster. I worked at Museum Sculptures at Sea (Beelden aan Zee); when he exhibited there I couldn’t tear myself away from his sculptures. The proportions were not right, it is his loose forms that inspire me. Brancusi is also great. But I am also inspired by painters, for example Matisse and Miró, especially when it comes to letting go of realistic work.”

Sculptures by Mary Bezembinder are in public spaces, in private gardens and in homes. In the 50-plus flat in Rijswijk at ‘the Hump’ (de Bult), a sculpture of dancing people, with light lines, hangs in the entrance of one of the two flats.

The stag beetle

The body is also usually central in her paintings. I see several hanging. The face is often not filled in. “I am not really into portraits, not that important, here too I am working monumentally, with large lines and bold shapes. Wonderful to do, a departure from sculpture.” But besides bodies there are also other subjects in her paintings such as the ‘stag beetle’, a beetle-like insect. “I heard that it was threatened with extinction, a beetle with antlers. I got enormous inspiration from that. I then started making a series of portraits of the ‘stag beetle’.”

How long has Mary been an artist?

“Since I was born, haha. I wanted to be involved in art. That was part of me. I have now discovered that. In ’75 I went to the Academy, first the Royal Academy and then the Free Academy Psychopolis. There was no limit to the disciplines you could choose from. I experienced the change of disciplines as very pleasant. From Rudi Rooijackers I learned things about clay and sculpting, spatial insight. I also learned a lot from Jan Pater. From George Lampe I learned to design and make forms of collage. There are so many people who passed through my life and from whom I learned a lot.

That doesn’t stop, I’m still learning and I remain curious.

At some point it became my main job: artist. I was what I always wanted to be. I liked sharing knowledge and being able to spar with each other. Many creative professions have that too. Your creative brain doesn’t stop functioning and doesn’t retire.”

What is her experience of art life?

“You do your thing, as it should be. Gather people around you who are like-minded. Try everything, and am not afraid to cross boundaries. You go a step further because it is your path. That is a privilege.

It just happens. Your mind gets the space to use your creative brain. I have a notebook next to my bed to write down ideas. Sometimes in my half-sleep/dreams: ‘how do I solve this?’. In my half-sleep I sometimes get solutions. Then I wake up happy.”

Finally, what is her philosophy?

“A sculptor can consider every element of the human body as a separate entity. Art expands your world.

Stay true to yourself. Develop your own signature. Sometimes you are influenced, those are also lessons you have to learn. It is important that you keep looking, that is very essential.”

https://www.marybezembinder.nl/
https://www.instagram.com/marybezembinder/
https://www.haagsekunstenaars.nl/cv/122
https://haagsekunstkring.nl/onze-leden/108/kunstenaar/
https://inzaken.eu/2025/03/02/mary-bezembinder-je-gaat-een-stapje-verder-dat-is-mijn-voorrecht/