“Every sculpture has its moment of the day.” With equal justification, the subtitle of this biography could be, “A fight for (cultural) survival. Because it took a great deal of love and suffering, energy, courage, perseverance, inventiveness, and money to fulfill Nic Jonk’s great wish. But he succeeded; the farmer’s son became an internationally renowned artist, and his sculpture garden and large gallery came into being.

Sixty years of the Museum and Sculpture Garden Nic Jonk. More than half a century ago, the Noord-Holland sculptor started a publicly accessible cultural park in a traditional farmhouse and on adjacent plots of land, where he would show his sculptures, drawings, and later his paintings to a large audience. Initially, almost exclusively plaster statues on potato crates, but gradually “the sculpture garden” grew into what would become his life’s work; a series of bronze statues standing on tasteful pedestals, which are also placed in numerous national and international cities and villages, because Jonk is the sculptor with the most sculptures (250) in public spaces. “Nic Jonk” in Grootschermer is a household name; the Museum and Sculpture Garden are a meeting point of culture and nature.

The English translation of this book was published to mark the 60th anniversary of the Museum and Sculpture Garden Nic Jonk.