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Artwork: Dierenriem 1962

Artwork by Janus Nuiten. It represents the twelve zodiac signs.

Double fired tiles, 6 by 75 x 225 cm

Original description:

The mosaics by Janus Nuiten represent the twelve zodiac signs. In the early sixties, the then art student Arthur Brouwers assisted the artist in installing the artwork in the central hall of the former Mariaveld Mavo on Keermanslaan in Breda. When the school had to make way for housing construction, the work was saved at the last moment from the demolition hammer. Together with Van Sabben Tegelwerken, the mosaic was removed and restored. Now, the sunny south facade is adorned very aptly by the spring and summer months (March - September) and the north facade of the flats on Boeimeerlaan by the winter months (October - February).

Janus Nuiten (Princenhage 1913 – Leiden 2014) received a painting education at the crafts school, subsequently obtained his teaching certificate in drawing in Tilburg, and completed the Graphic Arts course at the Academy of Fine Arts Sint Joost in Breda. In his parents' café, he made sketches of customers which he sold for a few pennies. At the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he ultimately trained in free painting. In that city, he also met the Belgian artist Mado Schoolmeesters, whom he married in 1956 and moved to Breda three years later. Thirty years later, he moved to Leiden. 

His output was substantial, in various styles and techniques. In 2007, there was a major retrospective exhibition of his work at the then Breda's Museum.

The photographs were taken by Jeroen van Eijndhoven.

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