Carl Schröder (puppeteer)

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Carl Schröder (born June 19, 1904 in Kötitz ; † February 8, 1997 in Radebeul ) was a German puppeteer , puppet designer and director . Today he is regarded in professional circles as one of the most important pioneers of artistic puppet theater and as a pioneer of film and television puppetry.

Life

Growing up in Radebeul, Schröder first learned the locksmith's trade, completed a technician training at the State Mechanical Engineering School in Chemnitz and then worked as a mechanical engineer. In 1925 he attended the factory teacher seminar in Berlin-Lichtenberg and afterwards worked as an educator in a Berlin children's home.

In 1928, Schröder encountered the art of puppetry during a guest performance by puppeteer Max Jacob on the Hohnsteiner Puppenbühne and received the life-changing inspiration to deal with puppetry himself. After studying graphics in Berlin with Emil Orlik , Schröder initially oriented himself towards the style of the Hohnsteiner Puppenbühne and that of the figures by the wood sculptor Theo Eggink , but soon began looking for his own artistic signature. In 1929 he married Henny Quoadt, who served him as a costume designer, and with her founded a traveling theater with Hohnsteiner hand puppets. From 1930 Schröder lived again in his parents' house in Radebeul.

During the Second World War, Schröder, who was in charge of his own travel stage called Radebeuler Puppenbühne, was employed by the Nazi leisure organization Kraft durch Freude to support the front and was also with the Volkssturm , while his wife Henny had to work in an armaments factory. After the time of National Socialism , the Schröder stage moved mainly through Saxony and played for both children and adults. While many of his colleagues, including Max Jacob and Paul Hölzig , left the GDR for the west, Schröder stayed in the GDR.

Schröder quickly developed into one of the most popular puppeteers in the GDR. The GDR cultural institutions made it possible for him to perform numerous foreign guest appearances, and he was also allowed to perform in the Federal Republic .

In 1961 he closed his touring theater and went to DEFA from 1962 to 1965 as a director for puppet cartoons . There he was also responsible for numerous equipment, created both the characters and the sets. Schröder was responsible for a total of ten DEFA productions, some of which were fairytale-like and some satirical in content.

In 1966 he was appointed artistic director of the Berlin Puppet Theater, an office he held until he reached retirement age in 1969. From 1970 he worked as a freelance puppet designer, director, outfitter, consultant and photographer, for example for the puppet theaters in Bautzen and Wittenberg , Karl-Marx-Stadt and Naumburg .

Schröder's dolls differed significantly from those of the well-known Hohnsteiner style. The hand puppet heads were mostly larger than life and could only be guided through a knob in the doll's neck. Strikingly large faces and naive painting turned Schröder's dolls, which were always covered or modeled, into unmistakable types of figures. In contrast to other well-known doll designers of his time such as Eggink or Till de Kock , he never worked in series. Schröder has received many awards for his services to puppetry.

Productions at Schröder's Radebeul puppet stage (selection)

For children

For adults

Filmography (direction and equipment)

All of the films were hand puppet productions by DEFA

  • 1959: Pinocchio's adventure (co-director with Erich Günther )
  • 1962: The horse thief in Füssing
  • 1963: Just a fairy tale
  • 1963: The iron Heinrich
  • 1963: European marten
  • 1964: The colorful hat
  • 1964: The devil with the three golden hairs
  • 1965: Klaus and the painter
  • 1966: The secret of the great she-bear
  • 1966: The Scapin's Pranks

Awards

Exhibitions

Collections

literature

  • Rolf Mäser (Red.): Puppet theater yesterday and today. Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Dresden 1976 (with biography and photos by Carl Schröder).
  • Rolf Mäser (Red.): Old Saxon Marionettes. Leipzig 1977 (with a foreword and photographs by Carl Schröder).
  • Rolf Mäser (Red.): Carl Schröder. Puppeteer - designer - director. State Art Collections, Dresden 1981.
  • Hans Purschke: Lovable doll world. Hamburg 1962 (with photos of Schröder's characters).
  • Rolf Schenk, Sabine Scholze (Red.): The trick factory. DEFA animation films 1955-1990. Dresden 2003 (with information about Carl Schröder's film work).
  • Olaf Bernstengel , Manfred Scholze: Dresden puppet show mosaic . Erfurt 2005, ISBN 3-89702-915-4 , p. 112 ff.
  • German Institute for Puppet Play (ed.): Master of Puppet Play 2: The hand puppeteer Carl Schröder. Bochum, undated
  • Gottfried Feustel: Princess and jester. A cultural history of the world's puppet theater. Leipzig 1991 (with illustrations of Carl Schröder's characters).
  • UNIMA (Red.): Puppet theater of the world. Berlin 1965 (with illustrations of Carl Schröder's characters).
  • Frank Andert (Red.): Radebeul City Lexicon . Historical manual for the Loessnitz . Published by the Radebeul City Archives. 2nd, slightly changed edition. City archive, Radebeul 2006, ISBN 3-938460-05-9 .
  • Carl Schröder 1904-2004. Exhibition catalog for the 100th birthday in the Stadtgalerie Radebeul. Concept, selection and catalog Bernd Meyer-Rähnitz, advice from Olaf Bernstengel. albis-international, bibliophilenverlag dresden-ústí, 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dorothee Carls: Schröder, Carl . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
personal data
SURNAME Schröder, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German puppeteer, puppet maker and director
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Kötitz
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1997
Place of death Radebeul