Christian Genschow

Christian Friedrich Genschow (born September 18, 1814 in Rostock , † November 1, 1891 in Groß-Lichterfelde near Berlin) was a German sculptor .

Life

Christian Friedrich Genschow was born as the fourth of 13 children to the worker Franz Jakob Genschow and his wife. His brother Georg Genschow (1828–1902) studied landscape painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy .

At the age of eleven, Christian Genschow suffered a severe disability of his left leg from being severely scalded with liquid wax. He had to break off an apprenticeship as a carpenter due to excessive physical strain. In 1834 Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I approved a grant of 60 thalers for drawing training with Friedrich Hehse in Rostock. After doubling the scholarship, Genschow was able to study sculpture at the Berlin Art Academy with Ludwig Wichmann from 1836 to 1840 and with Christian Daniel Rauch in 1840/42 . At Rauch he worked as an assistant until 1850, among other things together with Carl Wolgast on the models for the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin. After completing this extensive work, Genschow founded his own studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg . Between 1838 and 1881 he exhibited at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition .

In the years 1852 to 1857, at the intercession of the director of the grand ducal collections Schwerin Lisch , Genschow received several orders for the construction of the palace in Schwerin with his main work, the equestrian statue of the Obotrite prince Niklot . From 1857 to around 1866 Genschow also worked as an artistic assistant for the Dankberg Institute for Architectural Ornamentation . Until 1876 further orders followed for Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II , who in 1870 awarded him the Gold Cross of Merit of the House Order of the Wendish Crown on the occasion of the inauguration of the new main university building in Rostock . The worsening of his foot condition led to his foot being amputated in 1874.

Christian Genschow was married to Johanne Wilhelmine Ernestine Bohl (1822-1891) since 1842. The couple had no children.

Genschow worked as a sculptor until 1885, at last he was mentioned in the Berlin address books as " Rentier " until his death . The grave in the old Luisenstadt cemetery is no longer preserved.

Services

Genschow's biography reveals a certain tragedy. Not least because of his handicap, he never managed to break away from the favor and orders of the Mecklenburg Grand Dukes. His predominantly small-format works are in the tradition of the Berlin School of Sculpture , especially that of his teacher Christian Daniel Rauch. Stylistically independent works that break away from the traditional are in vain in Genschow's oeuvre. Its artistic significance therefore remains essentially regionally limited to Mecklenburg.

Works

Person motive	image	Location whereabouts	Kind of material	Dating	Further information
Friedrich Franz I.		Schwerin missing	Amber relief	1834	Gift to the Grand Duke
Sewing box		Schwerin missing	Small sculpture amber	1834	Gift to the Grand Duchess
Alexandrine		Hohenzollern Museum Berlin missing	Relief plaster	1834	Example in marble 1856 (the dating 1834 is probably based on a reading error and should be more correctly 1854)
Friedrich Franz I.		unknown	Bust plaster	1835/36
Samuel Gottlieb Vogel		unknown	Relief plaster	1836
Paul Friedrich		lost	Bust marble	1839/42
Horsemen fighting the bull		Schwerin, State. museum	Bronze statuette	1846	Academy exhibition Berlin 1846, 1850, 1856
Johann Gottfried Schadow		unknown	Bronze statuette	1850
"The 4 elements": water , fire , earth , air in children's figures		Schwerin, State. museum	Bronze statuettes	1850	21/22 cm; also in Charlottenburg Palace (lost); a set 2013 in Frankfurt / M. auctioned
John as a boy with a lamb		Schwerin, State. museum	Bronze statuette	1850?	unsigned and undated
Crown Prince Wilhelm in a mask suit		unknown	Statuette plaster (bronze?)	1850/77
8 relief portraits of the palace building commission		Schwerin, castle	Terracotta relief	1851	Court Marshal Jaspar Friedrich von Bülow , Minister Ludwig von Lützow , Lieutenant General Adolf von Sell , Castle Captain Carl von Lützow , Go. Archivist Lisch , Oberbaurat Stüler , glass painter Gillmeister , master builder Stern (8 more portraits: master builder Behnke, court builder Demmler , court builder H. Willebrand , building manager Ludwig Willebrand are modeled by Heinrich Kalnas von Kalnassi )
Johann Albrecht I.		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1852
Anna Sophie of Mecklenburg		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1852
Friedrich Franz II.		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1852
Auguste of Mecklenburg		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1852
Old meckl. Coat of arms , Neues meckl. Coat of arms , Prussian coat of arms , Reuss's coat of arms		Schwerin, castle	Terracotta reliefs	~ 1852
Matthew , Moses , Paul and Isaiah		Röbel, St. Marien	Statuettes oak	~ 1853	as pulpit figures
Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1854
Carl Leopold of Mecklenburg		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1854
Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg		Schwerin, castle	Portrait head sandstone	1854
Friedrich Franz II.		lost	Bust marble	1854/69	Detectable 2 × in marble and 4 × in plaster (2 specimens in plaster preserved in Ludwigslust Palace)
Auguste of Mecklenburg		Berlin, National Gallery	Bust plaster	1854/61	1 × in marble and 4 × in plaster of paris (2 specimens in plaster of paris in Ludwigslust Palace, there the head of a marble bust)
Prince Friedrich Franz		lost	Bust plaster	1855	at the age of four, at the age of eleven see 1862
Prince Paul Friedrich		lost	Bust plaster	1855	at the age of three, at the age of nine see 1862
Obotrite prince Niklot		Schwerin, castle	Equestrian statue plaster	1855	Genschow's main work
7 pairs of boys with coats of arms		Schwerin, castle	Statuettes zinc	1855	a total of 14 individual representations, e.g. Part of Princes Friedrich Franz and Paul Friedrich
Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch		Schwerin, State. museum	Bust plaster	1855	Formerly on loan from the State Main Archive in Schwerin, now back in the museum
2 halberdiers		Schwerin, castle	Sandstone statues	1855	on the gable above the Niklothalle
Albrecht II.		Schwerin Castle	Sandstone statue	1856	as a small figure formerly in the dining room of the palace, which burned out in 1913
Magnus II.		Schwerin Castle	Sandstone statue	1856	as a small figure formerly in the dining room of the palace, which burned out in 1913
Wilhelm of Mecklenburg		unknown	Relief plaster	1856	Academy exhibition Berlin
Grand Duchess Alexandrine		unknown	Relief plaster	1856	Academy exhibition Berlin
Grenadier and artilleryman		unknown	Statuettes plaster	1856	Unrealized drafts for still images ( Georg Wiese received the order )
Allegories of trade , agriculture , horse breeding and fishing		Schwerin Castle, throne room	Statuettes plaster	1857	further allegories by Gustav Willgohs and Georg Wiese
Allegory of water		Schwerin, State. museum	Statuette marble	1858	Life-size, based on a model from 1850, also known as a fountain figure in cast zinc and bronzed zinc electroplating
The risen Christ		unknown	Relief marble	1858	Academy exhibition 1858
Umbrella children		Lübz, city park	Zinc fountain figure	1860/63	Dating unclear, another specimen was in the 1960s on private property in Parchim (lost)
Friedrich Schiller		unknown	Bust plaster	1860	modeled after the death mask; duplicated
Friedrich Wilhelm III.		unknown	Equestrian statuette plaster	1860	as a memorial draft for Berlin
Friedrich Wilhelm IV.		Schwerin, State. museum	Bust marble	~ 1861	executed after a model by Christian Daniel Rauch
Prince Friedrich Franz (III.)		Schwerin, State. museum	Bust marble	1862/64	Friedrich Franz at the age of 11; at least 4 plaster casts verifiable (1 × preserved in Ludwigslust Palace)
Prince Paul Friedrich Franz		Ludwigslust, castle	Bust marble	1862/64	Paul Friedrich Franz at the age of 9; at least 4 plaster casts verifiable (3 × preserved in Ludwigslust Palace)
Princess Marie		Ludwigslust, castle	Bust marble	1862/64	Marie at the age of 8, at least 4 plaster casts verifiable (3 × preserved in Ludwigslust Palace, 1 × Museum Schwerin)
Prince Johann Albrecht		Schwerin, State. museum	Bust marble	1862/64	Johann Albrecht at the age of 4, at least 4 casts in plaster can be proven (2 × preserved in Ludwigslust Palace)
Elector Friedrich II.		Berlin, Unter den Linden destroyed	Plaster of paris statue	1866	as part of the festive decorations for the victory celebration in 1866
Obotrite taming his horse		Schwerin, castle bridge	Zinc equestrian statue	1864/74	Also known as reductions in zinc, the size of the auxiliary model in the driveway to Basthorst Castle
Obotrite preparing his horse		Schwerin, castle bridge	Zinc equestrian statue	1873/76	Also known as reductions in zinc, the size of the auxiliary model in the driveway to Basthorst Castle
Allegory of winter		unknown	Statuette plaster?	~ 1880	Great Berlin art exhibition 1881
Friedrich Franz II.		Babelsberg destroyed	Bust bronze	1882	for the Feldherrenbank ; Busts melted down in WWII

literature

• Stüler, Willebrand, Prosch: The Schwerin Castle. Berlin 1869.
• W. Raabe, G. Quade: Mecklenburgische Vaterlandskunde. Volume 1, Wismar 1894.
• Genschow, Christian F. In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 13 : Gaab-Gibus . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1920, p. 398 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Helmut Börsch-Supan: The catalogs of the Berlin academy exhibitions 1786-1850. Volume 1–3, Berlin 1971.
• Wolfgang Vomm: Equestrian statues of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Germany. Dissertation University of Cologne 1979, Bergisch Gladbach 1979, p.
• Peter Bloch , Sibylle Einholz , Jutta von Simson (eds.): Ethos & Pathos. The Berlin School of Sculpture 1786–1914. Contributions to the exhibition. Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-7861-1598-2 , p.
• Christian Genschow . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 51, Saur, Munich a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-598-22791-4 , p. 369.
• Bernd Schattinger: Christian Genschow (1814-1891). Research into the life and work of a Mecklenburg sculptor. Schwerin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86062-037-3 .

Web links

Commons : Christian Genschow  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature about Christian Genschow in the state bibliography MV