Siet Zuyderland

Window of the Isolation Ward of the Amsterdam House of Detention, 1972

Siet Zuyderland recorded sixteen prisons with painful accuracy, and more as drawings than paintings. He would stay in them for an average of 4 days, adding up to a total of 64 days: the prison sentence for pickpocketing, Zuyderland sardonically noted. He often included humorous elements such as the ...two ‘little spies,’ mirrors here attached to the prison bars, but which are normally attached to the window of a house allowing you to see the street below. Their function here seems rather nonsensical, for the middle window is in fact barricaded. The useless mirrors thus provide a wry commentary on the prison system. Long-term loan from the Cultural Heritage Agency Text: Chris Reinewald From: Museum MORE: 100 jaar realisme, 2020, Gorssel