The Artistic Diplomat

If diplomacy is an art form, then German Ambassador Dr Ulrich Sante might just be the perfect artist.

- Farhan Shah

Just beside Ambassador Dr Ulrich Sante’s main two-storey residence in Nassim Road lies a small, nondescript whitewashed building that’s about a quarter of the size of a squash court. Within its four walls, you’ll find three racks overflowing with bricks, wood and metal objects in an assortment of shapes and sizes. It’s a stark departure from Dr Sante’s fastidiously neat home, but the makeshift storeroom is clearly one of the ambassador’s favourite rooms. Consider it his garden of raw materials, where he goes to pick out the ingredients he requires before adjourning to his workshop to work on his art pieces.

Many know Dr Sante as a diplomat, and only a select few are privy to his artistic passions. “My parents were wise enough to ensure that my siblings and I not only studied science and mathematics, but also the arts. As young children, they gave us space to be creative. When I grew older and started fixing things around the house, I realised that I liked working with my hands.”

ARTISTIC PURSUITS

This budding interest in art only crystallised when Dr Sante studied law in Freiburg, Germany. He was inexplicably drawn to the art history module and approached one of the professors, an old whitehaired woman, while she was giving a lecture on French ceramics.

“I told her I was studying law, but I liked her classes,” he recalled, a wistful look on his face. “I asked if she would allow me to participate and write a paper on a specific ceramic that I saw in Strasbourg. It was made by a French artist named Joseph Hannong.”

The professor agreed. And so, Dr Sante went immediately to work. The pursuit invigorated him, so much so that he went beyond the scope of the paper and began not only comparing different types of ceramics from the different regions in France and Italy, but also included his own drawings and illustrations of these pieces.