Cris Agterbergartist • sculptorAmsterdam 1883-1948 Utrecht

As an important designer in the field of arts and crafts and applied arts, Cris Agterberg was very versatile: he designed jewelry, worked with glass, leather and textiles, made ceramics, drew but above all saw himself as a sculptor. Agterberg grew up in Amsterdam and studied at the arts and crafts school both here and in Elberfeld, Germany. Once back in the Netherlands, he settled in Utrecht. Although Agterberg worked as a designer for Glasfabriek Leerdam, Plateelbakkerij Zenith and the Aardewerkfabriek Zuid-Holland, he preferred to produce handicraft products in small quantities, such as abstracted and organic bronze and earthenware sculptures, which can be placed in the style of the Amsterdam School. In 1932, Agterberg became a member of the National Socialist Movement and the Advisory Council for commissions to visual artists for the bound arts. He designed various decorations for buildings and for commemorative plaques. After the war, he was put on trial, but his pre-trial detention was commensurate with the sentence, so he was released after sentencing. In 2002, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht organized a retrospective of his oeuvre. His work is represented in the collections of the Rijksmuseum and the Centraal Museum, among others.