Docomomo International wishes to convey the most sincere condolences at the passing of our friend, Nic Tummers, to his family and friends.
“Nic Tummers (Heerlen, the Netherlands) sculptor, architectural critic and politician, has been of great importance for the establishment of Docomomo in the early days of our existence. Both as a Senator for the Labor Party in the Dutch Parliament (1974-1995) and as the chairman of the Culture and Education Committee in the Council of Europe (1979-1994) he was very active in promoting our young organization.
He was a devoted Modernist, an innovative idealist and successful organizer of groundbreaking cultural activities. Living in the Dutch mining district near the borders with Germany and Belgium he has put enormous effort in the multinational exchange of students, debates, archives, exhibitions etc.
The first time the name Docomomo – as well as our intentions – were presented to an outside audience was during the first Council of Europe colloquium on the Patrimony of European 20th Century Architecture, held in Vienna in December 1989, for which Nic Tummers invited me to give a presentation.
As Representative of the Council of Europe he gave one of the opening addresses at the founding Conference of Docomomo in September 1990 in Eindhoven. At the second international Docomomo conference at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1992, Tummers gave another opening address and participated intensely in the debates using his broad experience.
Together with him I wrote the paper ‘Authenticity and the Modern Movement’ which he presented at the Nara Japan Conference on Authenticity of Unesco (Iccrom,Icomos) in 1994.
For many of us the storyteller Nic Tummers was a great connector with the early heroes of the Modern Movement both in architecture, sculpture and painting.
Till the last weeks of his life he practiced the Modernist slogan: ‘As long as I breathe I hope’. Nic, source of inspiration, thank you for all you mean to us. ‘Glück auf’, as the miners in your beloved Euroregion used to say, meaning: ‘good luck on your way up’.”
By Hubert-Jan Henket