Fioen Blaisse-Kramer artwork • statue • sculpture • for sale Desert dancer

Despite her musical talent as a violinist, sculptor Hetty 'Fioen' Blaisse-Kramer chose a career as a sculptor. She continued to focus on figuration throughout her life, even in a time when abstraction reigned supreme, yet she nevertheless developed her own innovative visual language. The sculptures she worked on, sometimes for months, she believed, 'had to have their own expressiveness'. Initially, she often created portraits commissioned by private individuals, but increasingly, commissions came from government agencies for sculptures in public spaces, appearing in various cities across the Netherlands. During a trip to Tunisia in 1970, she was fascinated by the traditional dancers dressed in light, airy fabrics, performing their dance with supreme concentration. From that time on, images of these women became an important and recognizable theme in her work.