Peter Alma was a Dutch visual artist who studied in the Den Haag art academy and in Paris. He was very influenced in the communist movement and his art has been inspired by his believes. A lot of work have been done on public buildings in Amsterdam. The most famous among them was a mosaic on the old Marninxstraat swimming pool which was placed in the Amstel station after its destruction.
His works represent a lot of industrial elements and workers. He works mostly with outlines and bold representations.
In the Wendingen magazine, he drew eight portraits of different social or religious communities. I choose the one where he represents the catholic church clergy. Although I saw his work in colors at the station and I didn’t like it, I was immediately attracted to his black and white portraits. I really liked the fact that he putted the cross instead of their face. To me, it looks like a critic of the consequence of a religious belief and especially with the catholic church. We can think that their religion make them blind and is the only thing you see on them. The face shows emotions and in this case, their face shows only this religious sign.
Wendingen 9-11 1930 Rijksacademie Amsterdam