Alexander Fischer (sculptor)

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Alexander Fischer (born October 31, 1903 in Nuremberg , † November 30, 1981 in Munich ) was a German sculptor .

Christophorus statue on Scheidplatz in Munich by Alexander Fischer

Life

After attending grammar school in Nuremberg, Fischer studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1920 . His teachers there were Erwin Kurz and, from 1923, Bernhard Bleeker , whose best-known students are Fischer.

As early as 1926, the year in which he completed his studies, Fischer's works were purchased by the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen and the city of Munich; a year earlier he had participated in an exhibition at the Munich Secession . Study trips were made possible by a scholarship from the City of Munich, which was granted to him in 1930. Further works followed on behalf of the Bavarian State and the City of Munich.

In 1933, a fountain created by Fischer - destroyed in World War II - was set up in Munich's Luitpoldpark ; From 1937, however, Fischer's work was severely hampered after his work had been described by the National Socialist rulers as "degenerate" . Nevertheless, Fischer was still able to take part in exhibitions occasionally, and in 1940 one of his works was shown in the magazine Die Jugend .

After the Second World War, in which he had participated as a soldier, Fischer joined the Munich New Group . Fischer still created a few works for the public space in Munich, even if his work otherwise received little feedback. Fischer applied unsuccessfully for a professorship at the Art Academy in Munich, but was later accepted as an honorary member.

Fischer had been married to the sculptor Ludmilla Fischer-Pongratz since 1935 , who had also studied with Bleeker, and lived with her in Grünwald ; Fischer-Pongratz died six months before her husband.

Controversy

Fischer sought a public discussion with his critics and criticized his colleagues with sharpness.

After a portrait of the Bavarian State Chancellor Wiguläus von Kreittmayr, created by Fischer in 1932 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, was destroyed in World War II, the city of Munich commissioned a new Kreittmayr monument to be erected on the Promenadeplatz in the old town near Fischer. The finished memorial - referred to by critics as a “forced-willed berserk ” ( Die Kunst ) - met with opposition from the city in spring 1961 due to its unusual design. A dispute that lasted a year followed, which finally ended in the spring of 1962 when the memorial was given to Kreittmayr's hometown of Offenstetten and erected there; The decisive factor was fundamental protests against a Kreittmayer memorial because of his support for torture.

After Fischer won a competition of the DAS in 1969 to design a figure of the driver's patron Christophorus for the company headquarters in Munich and, according to his own account, had already received an oral execution order, his work was rejected again and a new competition was announced, which Josef Henselmann finally won. In the spring of 1970, Fischer then erected a plaster version of his monument at the originally intended location in a night-and-fog campaign. After the DAS gave the ultimate request to remove the model, Fischer had it brought to the opposite side of the street, in front of the Haus der Kunst . The finished memorial finally found its final location in a tram turning loop at Scheidplatz in Munich- Schwabing-West .

In a further nocturnal action in 1973 Fischer again placed one of his sculptures in front of the Haus der Kunst, its original title was "Memento MCMXLV"; since 1979, the sculpture has been renamed “Stürzende (End of an Era)” in Maximilianstrasse in the Lehel district .

  • Kreittmayer memorial in Offenstetten, 1961

  • "St. Christophorus ”in Munich, 1969–1972

  • "Falling (End of an Era)" in Munich, 1973

Fischer also came into the public eye through leaflet campaigns against exhibitions of modern art in Munich.

plant

Typical for Fischer's sculptures - mostly in bronze or cement - is a very restless, rough surface. Many figures, very often horses, are shown with extreme torsion of the body. Even when Fischer was still Bleeker's student, the idiosyncrasy of his representations was noted. In the period after the Second World War he encountered contradictions with his difficult to classify position between modernity and tradition.

In addition to the above, there are many other works by Fischer in public space:

  • "Wild horse", Brienner Strasse , Munich- Maxvorstadt , 1950, installed in 1965
  • "Horse, biting", Friedberg (Hessen) , 1967
  • "Elefant Wastl", Grünwald , 1970
  • "Adler", Grünwald, 1974
  • "Neighing Horse", Grünwald, installed in 1989
  • “Great Lovers”, “Couple”, Munich- Bogenhausen , compiled in 1990 and 1992
  • "Horse with rider", Munich- Westend , 1956, compiled in 1992
  • "Horse, biting itself", Munich- Hasenbergl , 1965, (2012 in front of the "Kulturzentrum 2411")

  • "Horse with rider" on Heimeranplatz in Munich, 1956

  • “Wild horse” on Königsplatz in Munich, 1965

Participation in exhibitions

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://la24muc.de/181/hasenbergl-grundstein
  2. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Exhibition Baden-Baden / Participants: Fischer, Alexander ( Memento from February 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on July 29, 2015)

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander Fischer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Fischer, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1981
Place of death Munich