Bronze sculpture

38  * 65 * 5,5 cm on a marble base

Signed in the front

Provenance: Family of the artist

Biography Margot Heldring

Margaretha (Margot) Hudig-Heldring (Englewood, New Jersey, 1919 – 2006, Laren) was born in the United States as the daughter of Johannes Carel Hendrik Heldring (1887-1962) and Elisabeth Maria Talma (1892-1985). In 1925, the family returned to the Netherlands. Margot drew a lot in her early years, and it was clear from a young age that she would choose an artistic career. She attended the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) in Amsterdam, where she studied under Jan Bronner. Classes ended in 1944 when the coal supply ran out, making it impossible to heat the buildings.

As a result, she sought her fortune elsewhere, fleeing via Liège, Brussels, and Biarritz to Madrid, from where she took a boat to the United States. She arrived in New York via New Orleans, worked in a laboratory, met sculptor Alexander Archipenko, and attended the Art Students League.

After the war, she completed her studies at the academy and met Jan Engelchor. From her first marriage to Jan, she had a son and a daughter. Heldring came from a well-to-do family.

Hudig-Heldring became particularly known for her bronze sculptures of horses. She exhibited her work at the AVL, in Bodegraven, at Castle Groeneveldt, and at the Concours Hippique in the RAI and in Aachen, often to sell her pieces. She also exhibited alongside Corneille on Ameland. Her works were sold by Yvonne Piller, an artist as well. In 1971, she married for the second time, to A.W.F. Hudig, whom she outlived.

From 1996 onward, she also worked with stone, including alabaster and Carrara marble. In Overtoom, in front of Amsta, stands her sculpture of a young boy with a dog, Kleine Johannes, based on the book by Frederik van Eeden. In Bussum, a bronze relief of a flute player is displayed at a school. At the Rosa Spier House, a rearing horse sculpture can be found, as well as another rearing horse in front of Stichtse Hof. In Bloemendaal, there is a sculpture of a lying foal. Margot Hudig sometimes signed her work as "Margo," omitting the "t."