August Endell

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Portrait of August Endell (around 1900)

August Endell (born April 12, 1871 in Berlin ; † April 15, 1925 there ) was a German art theorist , designer and architect of Art Nouveau . His first marriage was to the later Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven .

life and work

Elvira court atelier of entrepreneurs Anita Augspurg and Sophia Goudstikker with the ornament interpreted as a dragon (photo around 1900)

Endell was an architectural self-taught . His creative ideas followed his preoccupation with perception. During his studies with Theodor Lipps, he had come to appreciate their importance for people, namely to create a unity out of many things . Endell became known in particular as co-editor of the magazine Pan and as the architect of the colorful glazed facades of the first of the Hackesche Höfe , Berlin, the Endell'schen Hof .

Endell's first and most famous major work was the design by the Elvira photo studio in Munich (1896/1897), which is undoubtedly seen as an extreme case of architecture . Its Art Nouveau dragon was knocked off in 1937 at the instigation of the National Socialists in the course of designing the surroundings of the House of German Art . In 1944 the building was badly damaged by bombs and its ruins were demolished after the war.

From 1898 to 1899 Endell built the North Sea sanatorium of Dr. Karl Gmelin in Wyk auf Föhr. In 1901 he went to Berlin, where he created a number of important public buildings as well as various residential and commercial buildings. In the spring of 1901, according to his expressionist -looking plans, the elaborate conversion of several existing theaters in the courtyard of the property at Köpenicker Strasse 68 for the colorful theater by Ernst von Wolnahm (destroyed in the war).

Facades in the 1st courtyard of the Hackesche Höfe in Berlin-Mitte (2005)

1905/1906 followed the design of the Neumann'schen ballrooms for the wine merchant and innkeeper Wilhelm Neumann, Rosenthaler Straße 38-40 in the Hackesche Höfe , with all their furnishings and the design of the facades of the 1st courtyard, which later became Endell after him 'scher Hof was named. The Chameleon variety theater is located in one of Neumann's ballrooms , the single-storey ballroom on the 1st floor of the transverse building in the 1st courtyard . In 2004/2005, the chameleon hall was largely faithfully restored with the help of the Berlin State Monuments Office and restored in the color version by Endell.

Another work by Endell is the house built in 1906/1907 on Steinplatz , Uhlandstraße 197 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. It was used as a hotel on Steinplatz from 1913 and was requisitioned by Karl Dönitz in 1943 . Most recently it served as a retirement home. After a period of vacancy and the associated deterioration, it was restored and reopened as a hotel in 2013.

In 1911/1912 the Mariendorf trotting track in Berlin-Mariendorf was built according to Endell's plans with the assistance of Adolf Rading . To the exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund in Cologne in 1914, he sent a draft for the “interior of a dining car ”. From 1918 August Endell was director of the State Academy of Arts and Crafts in Breslau . He formulated his art psychological principles in numerous theoretical writings.

In 1908 the art-philosophical work The Beauty of the Big City was published by Strecker & Schröder (Stuttgart) . In it, Endell describes the city at the beginning of the 20th century. He developed a vision for a modern city as a meeting place for people, business, art and culture.

Endell died in Berlin on April 15, 1925.

environment

His second wife, the sculptor Anna Endell b. Meyn was close friends with Gertrud Heinersdorff, the widow of the Berlin expressionist glass painter Gottfried Heinersdorff . Both last lived in Cappenberg in Westphalia. Anna Endell had her studio in a room in Cappenberg Castle . The two women’s circle of friends also includes the painter and parament embroiderer Gerta Overbeck-Schenk , who also lives in Cappenberg . Anna Endell died in 1967 (one year after her friend) and was buried in the Cappenberg cemetery; on her tombstone is the addition: "August Endell in memory".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nikolaus Schaffer: Architecture as a picture. The Elvira Atelier, a unique piece in architectural history. In: Rudolf Herz, Brigitte Bruns (ed.): Hof-Atelier Elvira 1887–1928. Aesthetes, emanciers, aristocrats. (Exhibition catalog) Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich 1985, p. 17.
  2. ↑ Anna Sophie Laug: An architectural gem on the south beach: Dr. Gmelin's North Sea Sanatorium by August Endell . In: 200 x bathing season. Seebad Wyk auf Föhr 1819 to 2019 . Wienand 2019, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-86832-509-6 , pp. 36-45 .

literature

  • Nicola Bröcker, Gisela Moeller, Christiane Salge (eds.): August Endell (1871–1925). Architect and form artist. Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86568-654-1 .
  • Helge David: Of the beauty. August Endell's texts on art and aesthetics 1896 to 1925. Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-89739-599-2 .
  • Helge David (ed.), August Endell: From seeing. Texts 1896–1925 on architecture, formal art and “The beauty of the big city”. Birkhäuser, Basel / Berlin / Boston 1995, ISBN 3-7643-5196-9 .
  • Rudolf Herz, Brigitte Bruns (ed.): Hof-Atelier Elvira 1887–1928. Aesthetes, emanciers, aristocrats. Exhibition catalog, Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich 1985.
  • Eberhard Marx:  Endell, Ernst Moritz August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 490 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Jürg Mathes (Ed.): Theory of literary art nouveau. Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-15-008036-3 , p. 40, p. 100 ff.
  • Klaus Reichel: From Art Nouveau to Objectivity. August Endell (1871-1925). Dissertation, Ruhr University Bochum 1974.
  • Ingvild Richardsen : »Passionate hearts, fiery souls«. How women changed the world . Frankfurt / M .: S. Fischer, 2019, pp. 91–93, 206–208, 222–233, ISBN 978-3-10-397457-7
  • Nikolaus Schaffer: Architecture as a picture. The Elvira studio. A unique piece in the history of architecture. In: Rudolf Herz, Brigitte Bruns (ed.): Hof-Atelier Elvira 1887–1928. Aesthetes, emanciers, aristocrats. Exhibition catalog, Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich 1985, pp. 5–24.
  • Nikolaus Schaffer: Architecture as a picture. August Endell's “Atelier Elvira”. Dissertation, University of Salzburg 1981.

Web links

Commons : August Endell  - collection of images, videos and audio files


personal data
SURNAME Endell, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Art Nouveau architect
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1925
Place of death Berlin