Mayor Jacques Wallage (1998-2009)

About this artwork.

Jacques Wallage (b. 1946) is a politician from the Labor Party and grew up in Groningen. Wallage is now a member of the Labor Party and, during his studies in Sociology, will serve on the board of the Groninger Student Council Gronstra. In 1970 he started his political career as a councilor in Groningen and although he is the youngest councilor, the group wants to make him chairman. Two years later, Wallage becomes an alderman in the country's first left-wing council. He is also an alderman in the next two progressive colleges and under his responsibility the Traffic Circulation Plan (1977) and the Middleschool (1979) are introduced.

From 1981 to 1998, Wallage was active in national politics. Despite his re-election as party leader of the PvdA in the House of Representatives, he accepted the office of mayor in the municipality of Groningen in 1998. Like his great example Harm Buiter, Wallage shows himself above all to be a team leader and ambassador of the city. He was involved in, among other things, the realization of the Euroborg stadium and the new Meerstad district. Wallage usually left the credit to his aldermen, but behind the scenes his influence is undeniable. After nearly ten years, Wallage retired from the municipality in 2009 as mayor. He stated as the reason for his departure: "You must prevent Groningers from referring to their mayor when they talk about d'Olle Grieze" (the old gray).

Wallage's mayor portrait was painted in 2009 with graphite and acrylic on wood/cotton by Annemarie Busschers (born 1970), a painter from 's-Hertogenbosch. She studied art at the Minerva Academy from 1991 to 1996 in Groningen, where she was active as a draftsman, painter and graphic artist. Busschers' subjects are not arbitrary. Her choices stem from "where she is in her life." She started painting portraits after the birth of her son and then concentrated on the people around her. She also regularly draws and paints herself, which makes a process of aging visible. In 2020 she got breast cancer, got sick and then focused on getting better. During this process she calmly continues to work on a series of portraits of various people from Groningen.

In her work, especially 'the skin' deserves special attention. In all cases, the wearer determines the texture of the skin. The graphic artist prepares a support to make a print of this support. Think of an etching or woodcut. Just like with a woodcut, she gushes into the wood of a panel, cuts into the canvas, inks in the woodcut, or veneers with wood. However, she does not make a printout of the work, but hangs the process on the wall.

For the Portrait of Mayor Wallage, Busschers looked at the tradition of mayor portraits; the requirements the portrait had to meet and to what extent she had the space to deviate from them. As a result, in addition to the technique used, the size of the portrait also deviates from the tradition. Wallage's coat is veneered with black bog oak. This wood has been in the water for years to get its black color. The tie is veneered with different woods, the face is made of cotton and the background is a gouged panel. The artist considers the features on the skin, depicted in pencil, to be the biography of the sitter.

Facts & Figures.

• Artist(s)
  Annemarie Busschers

• Year of creation
  2009

• Dimensions (in cm)
  140x95

• Collection
  Town Hall Collection

• Technic
  Mixed technique