Art and heritage ambassador
Leo Ewals has been deeply committed to art, culture and heritage for many decades, at both regional and national levels. He is renowned as an expert in 19th-century French art and as a passionate champion of regional artists, such as Jac Maris and Piet Gerrits.
Since 2008, he has been actively involved with the Jac Maris Studio Museum in Heumen, and since 2015 he has been chairman of the Piet Gerrits Foundation in Heilig Land Stichting (Berg en Dal). He has conducted extensive research into the life and work of Piet Gerrits and published the definitive work on the subject, Piet Gerrits (1878-1957), Religieus Historieschilder (2023).
He has also been active as a volunteer at Alliance Française Nijmegen and the Heumen Heritage Platform. These four foundations jointly supported the application for the Royal Honour.
Heilig Land Stichting Archives
In recent years, the KDC has been working closely with various partners to bring together the various archives of the Heilig Land Stichting (now: Museumpark Oriëntalis) and its parish in one central depot at Radboud University. Due to Leo’s knowledge and expertise regarding the artist Piet Gerrits – the designer of the museum park – he came to aid the KDC. He proved to be an invaluable asset in making the collection accessible for the wider public.
In his speech, the mayor recalled how Leo, risking his own safety, stood on a stool taking photographs of the Piet Gerrits drawings – All for the arts! The KDC is immensely grateful for his dedication.
More about this news on the website of Heumen
