Artur Sansoni

Artur Sansoni (* 1886 in Freiberg , Saxony ; † June 1971 in Wunsiedel , Upper Franconia ) was an Italian-German sculptor .

Life

Artur Sansoni was born in Freiberg / Saxony as the eldest son of a guest worker family whose father had emigrated to Germany from Lundo on Lake Garda in Italy. In Freiberg, the father worked as a miner and the family moved to Eisleben in Saxony-Anhalt. His father died at the age of 52. From then on, the mother had to raise her seven children alone. Her eldest son Artur helped her. After completing elementary school and doing business training, he went to relatives in Lundo Lomaso to learn the Italian language. In Milan , where he worked for a few years as a shoe seller and businessman, he began to be interested in art and took courses at the local community college with Professor Ricci. Ricci encouraged him and took him into his studio. In 1914 he received the first order from the German colony there, which he was unable to carry out because the war had started. Two wounds brought him luck in misfortune and he was able to continue his studies at the trade school in Munich with Karl Killer. After the end of the First World War , he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he attended the master class of Professor Hermann Hahn, with whom he stayed until 1924.

In 1924 Artur Sansoni married Helene Sansoni-Balla . At first they lived in Sansoni's Munich apartment. After Artur Sansoni received a position in 1925 on the recommendation of Hermann Hahn as director of the newly founded granite sculpture school in Wunsiedel, they moved there. His students there include u. a. Günter Rossow . After the re-establishment by Sansoni, the school became the property of the city. It was initially housed in the one-story building of the former meat bank at the rear building of the Wunsiedler town hall, on the current parking lot. Only under Sansoni's successor Konrad Schmidt was the school to get a new building on Marktredwitzer Strasse in Wunsiedel.

During the Nazi era , granite was the preferred material for large sculptures and buildings. At first Sansoni had difficulties, as the design and shape of his sculptures did not correspond to the new understanding of art and culture. One saw in his sculptures - above all the eye area - a "non-Aryan" or "monogolic" expression. However, Sansoni's sculptures were no further point of attack, as Sansoni was asked by the Academy in Munich in 1938 to submit application documents for the appointment as Academy Professor. Since membership in the NSDAP was necessary for this, he decided against the will of his wife to apply for membership. The admission process dragged on and with the start of the war there were no more new appointments. After the Second World War, Sansoni was again invited to submit application documents for appointment as an academy professor. However, membership in the NSDAP now turned out to be an obstacle.

When he retired in 1952, Sansoni managed to get the Bavarian State to take over the Granit Technical School. After his retirement he took over the editing of “Naturstein”, a specialist magazine for stone masons and stone sculptors , which he worked until his 80th birthday. Artur Sansoni died at the age of 85 in June 1971 as a result of a heart attack on the way to Italy.

Artur Sansoni was the father of the chemist Bruno Sansoni and the grandfather of the plastic artist Andreas Sansoni .

plant

Artur Sansoni devoted himself entirely to the design of granite in Wunsiedel. The granite , meaning the group of hard rocks such. B. porphyry , syenite , diabase , diorite , is a difficult material to work with. Max Escher comes to the conclusion that only a certain artistic disposition leads to, or even forces, to preoccupy with granite. Escher's monograph documents Sansoni's complete oeuvre and refers to his versatile and exemplary work in the form of figures, half-figures, busts , statuettes, reliefs and bas-reliefs, gravestones and war memorials. In addition to the granite, Sansoni used other materials such as the Wunsiedler marble and the Untersberg marble , a limestone from Austria, as well as bronze , clay , plaster and wood as a kind of balance and relaxation .

There are basically two types of sculpting in hard stone: on the one hand, the development from the sphere and, on the other hand, that from the block. For the hard material of the granite and especially for his relief paintings, Sansoni preferred the simple and compact forms of ancient Egyptian art. The Egyptians had invented the sunk relief on the principle of the least possible destruction of the block. The surface of the stone is preserved and the figures are deepened. As a result, the image can be integrated harmoniously into the architecture.

Sansoni was a recognized expert in the field of granite carving and processing, who always felt particularly connected to the craft. This was also recognized on his retirement by being awarded the title of Honorary Master and by the award of the silver badge of honor for the German stonemasonry and stone carving trade in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt . In addition, he maintained contacts with the granite industry in the Fichtelgebirge.

Works in public space

• Stone relief
  • Relief at the hospital in Marktredwitz
  • Relief at the old people's home in Marktredwitz
  • Group relief "Truth" at the Jean Paul School in Wunsiedel
  • Pflüger at the agricultural school in Wunsiedel from Selber granite
  • Corner sculpture at the Sparkasse Wunsiedel made of Waldstein granite
  • War memorial in Marktschorgast made of Gefreeser granite
  • Memorial to the dead in the town church of Helmbrechts
  • House sign for the pharmacy in Tirschenreuth

• Stone sculpture
  • Mother and child for the central school building made of Kosseine granite
  • Madonna (approx. 1.65 m high) made of green porphyry
  • Three years of age at the Jean Paul School in Wunsiedel
  • Miner and wife
  • War memorial in Neukirchen near the Holy Blood near Regensburg in Kosseine granite
  • War memorial in Kemnath
  • Portrait sculpture by Christian Ponader in Untersberg marble
  • Portrait of Andreas Reul Sen., pioneer of the granite industry in green porphyry
  • Portrait earthborn of green porphyry
  • Plastic for the Sparkasse in Arzberg in Upper Franconia

• bronze
  • Hermes for a skyscraper in Hamburg
  • Portrait of Mr. P.

• Wood
  • Linden wood summer
  • Drama masks made of linden wood
  • Relief on Ambo and Betbank
  • Relief Aquarius

Exhibitions

As part of its exhibition on contemporary art, the Fichtelgebirgsmuseum in Wunsiedel presents the plaster model of a bust cast in bronze shown above.

literature

• Max Escher : Arthur Sansoni. A master of granite , Ulrich, Nuremberg 1956
• Daniel Oelbauer: artist family Sansoni , in: Frankenland 57 (2005), pp. 361–365

Web links

• Literature by and about Artur Sansoni in the catalog of the German National Library
• Fichtelgebirgsmuseum Wunsiedel