Beautiful woodcarving of the famous (house) artist of Artis, Jacobus (Jaap) Kaas. The figurine measures 19 cm high in total. Is marked at the back. Condition: good, despite of an old restoration on the beak that has been refixed at the time. Jacobus (Jaap) Kaas (Amsterdam, August 4, 1898 - there, October 4th, 1972) was, among others, a Dutch sculptor, medalist and graphic artist. Kaas was born in Amsterdam, but spent his childhood (1900 to 1914) in Antwerp. He attended evening classes sculpturing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After the outbreak of the First World War, the Kaas family was forced to return to Amsterdam. Kaas was adopted at the State Academy of Fine Arts, where he from 1914 to 1920 among others was teached by Jan Bronner. Mari Andriessen was one of his classmates. Typical for Kaas are his animal figures, for which he gained inspiration in Artis. From 1927 to 1945 he had his own studio here. After his student days he was employed by among others Monument care and workt as a sculptor on various construction projects, such as the Tuschinski Theater (1920). In 1936 he was appointed as a lecturer at the Amsterdam Institute of Applied Art. Until 1943 he was the director of the Jewish Highschool of Kunstnijverheidsonderwijs.