August Tölken

August Theodor Tölken (also called Toelken in the spelling ; * September 14, 1892 in Bremen ; † May 28, 1975 in Bremen) was a German sculptor .

biography

Tölken was the son of the Bremen merchant Eberhard Tölken (June 28, 1846 to November 20, 1901) and his wife Auguste Theodore (called Dora), née. Plump (January 20, 1857 to April 24, 1919). Artistic ambitions were cultivated in the family, the mother drew. In addition to the painter Therese Marie Gustava (called Gustava) and Bertha Emmy, his siblings were also the brothers Georg Ludwig, Heinrich Wilhelm and Hermann Eberhard. From 1926 Tölken turned to sculpture, first studying at the art academy in Karlsruhe , then in Berlin under Wilhelm Gerstel (1879–1973), later as a master student of Hugo Lederer (1871–1940). Study visits took him to Paris and Italy . In Berlin he worked in a studio that was destroyed in a bombing raid during World War II . In 1945 he returned to Bremen and moved into his sculpture studio at Achterdiek 23 in Bremen- Oberneuland . He was married to Helga Oldenbourg (1905-1983), they had a daughter named Madlehn (1939-2010).

plant

Sundial, Focke Garden (Bremen)

Tölken realized numerous portrait commissions , but also large-format sculptures such as the relief "Bridge Construction" for the Bremen Bürgerstuben or the relief "God and Man" (1972) for the St. Remberti Church in Bremen . Several Tölken sundials can be found in the Bremen city area : in the Focke Garden , in the Musems Park and in the Botanical Garden . There is also a frieze on the gable of the formerly so-called " German House " and a sundial at the Raths pharmacy (1960). The latter is not oriented to the south , which is why the pointer had to be constructed at a special angle.

In the 1950s and 1960s, works of art were created in public spaces , for playgrounds and playgrounds in schools and day-care centers . In this context, Tölken designed the bronze sculpture “Two boys in conversation” (1968). The sculpture is located in the entrance area of ​​the dormitory at Dobbheide 82 in Bremen-Vegesack . Around 1925, Tölken created a bronze bust of the German painter Margarethe von Reinken , which was exhibited in the Kunsthalle Bremen in 1994 and is still kept in the depot there today . Two other works by the sculptor are also stored there: the “Portrait of Margarethe von Reinken” (approx. 1923–1925, bronze) and the small clay sculpture “Europe” (approx. 1950). The sculpture "Two boys in discussion" is located in the atrium of the Fritz Wendt Foundation . In the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus a collection of cast piece molds , plaster models , numerous sketches and photo material of the sculptor's works was brought together and processed.

Work title	material	Period
Relief Indians	Plaster of paris, colored	1971
Relief Indians	plaster	1971
Male torso	Plaster of paris, colored	1960
Woman bending down	Plaster of paris, colored	1960
Sitting boy	Plaster of paris, tinted	1955
Relief fire	plaster	1950-1960
Relief craft representation of carpenters	plaster	1950-1960
Relief craft representation of men with pipe	plaster	1950-1960
Sitting horse	Plaster of paris, colored	1950
Girl, looking up, arms bent	Plaster of paris, colored	1950
Relief of a standing boy from the back	cement	1950
female portrait head	Plaster of paris, colored	1920-1950

Other works (selection):

• Resting peasant woman with rooster (sculpture volume, bronze, 43.5 × 16 cm)
• Woman's torso (1939, mold for the woman's torso)
• The Town Musicians of Bremen (brass sculpture, since 1926 in the house of St. Petrus in Böttcherstraße, Bremen )
• Relief for the memorial to the fallen of the city of Stade on the Güldensternbastion (1921)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Therese Marie Gustava Tölken , bfm, Bremer Frauenmuseum eV, accessed on August 11, 2018
2. ↑ Eberhard Tölken , Geneanet , accessed on August 11, 2018
3. ↑ August Theodor Tölken , Geneanet, accessed on August 11, 2018
4. ↑ Sundials in Bremen , accessed on August 11, 2018
5. ^ Art in Public Space Bremen , Senator for Culture, Bremen , accessed on August 11, 2018
6. ^ Work on the Tölken estate , Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, February 25, 2015, accessed on August 11, 2018
7. ↑ List of works , source: Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, accessed on August 11, 2018

See also

• The Tölken family - a search for traces , Gröpelingen history workshop
• Searching for traces in Namibia , Gröpelingen history workshop