Mascarita

In about 1964 Zitman was invited to teach at the design department of the school of Architecture in Caracas and he and his family settled in the hills above Caracas. () His earliest sculptural work () was exhibited in 1968 in the major art museum of Caracas. Shortly afterwards he received a visit from Dina Vierny, the famous artist's model who had established a flourishing art business in post-war Paris and who would open the Mussee Maillol in 1995. Vierny's meeting with Zitman resulted not only in the purchase of much of his works, but also signalled the start of his international career, as Vierny would organize exhibitions of her 'cher sculpteur' all over the world.
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With his strange, sometimes slightly distorted female figures Zitman expresses the charm of woman very movingly. The woman who is unattainable and haughty for the one, is willing and forthcoming for the other; the woman who repels and seduces, who suffers and is defiant. The Caribbean and Creole environment has clearly provided inspiration, but the women Zitman portrays are universal and express Woman in a plastic gripping and disquieting way: Woman living life, undergoing life and standing up to life. Woman of all countries, all cultures and all times. They are simultaneously sensual and chaste. They are greedy, but also frugal. They couple religious expression with profane postures. Cast in bronze, they reflect both the suffering of poverty and the enjoyment of life.
(Cornelis Zitman a.o., Cornelis Zitman : onze man in Caracas = our man in Caracas, Zwolle 2006, P 8 en 14)