Frans Siemer was and still is a well-known person in Noord-Brabant.
Many documentation and images of him can be found on
CuBra (Cultural Brabant)
The Siemer family had regular contact via Frans Siemer with my grandmother, Mrs. Dorothea (Door) Küller-De Winter.
I saw Uncle Frans, as I called him, because grandmother lived with us in Utrecht for 20 years.
He came, as was then customary in a priestly gown, by train from Tilburg to Utrecht; a gown, which usually stains under the ash through the pipe that he smoked.
From my parents' legacy I still have a number of woodcut prints, including the original box with "ex libris" cards for my father's books, Jac Lampe. This woodcut can be seen on the photo of Frans Siemer's desk.
Frans Siemer was a loner when his order was lifted.
He therefore had a lot of time to work as an artist.
He carved many Mary statuettes, which can be found throughout Brabant the way that he built during the holiday periods with the help of the students.
In my negatives archive I found a few recordings, which I have digitized and retouched and are published with this story.
Photos © Jan-Clemens Lampe
N.B. The wooden figures and the prints of woodcuts, made by Frans Siemer, will be auctioned 11-14 November 2021 at Veilinghuis Kort & van der Hoeff
