Nic Jonk
(Schermerhorn 1928 – Alkmaar 1994)
Truus Trompert
Signed on the foot
Edition 1/12
Bronze, H. 24.8 cm
Provenance:
From the family of the artist
N.B.:
Millions of people have stared at her, only few know her name. Truus Trompert (1915-1977) was for forty years the favourite nude model of sculptors and painters such as Mari Andriessen, Constant, Nic Jonk, Hildo Krop and Charlotte van Pallandt. “I might have been portrayed, painted, drawn and sculpted several thousands of times”, she once said. Her real name was Anna Sophia Maria Elisabeth Borghmans. Under that name practically no one knew her though, for at the academie – out of idleness or reasons of privacy – all models were named Truus.
Trompert became a model out of necessity, she grew up in an Amsterdam working class family that could use every cent. “A girfriend of mine asked me to fill in for her. But I almost fainted from fear and stayed behind the curtain untill she came to fetch me. I remained completely still the rest of the evening. I was taken aback by the crowd, but they nevertheless asked me back. Each night I saw new faces I felt ashamed. And each evening I would go to the studio, my mother would say: ‘Remember, do not take off your clothes!”