Benno Elkan

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Benno Elkan in his London studio while working on the menorah for the Knesset

Benno Elkan OBE (born December 2, 1877 in Dortmund , † January 10, 1960 in London ) was a German sculptor who created the Great Menorah in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem and numerous monuments, busts and medals in Germany and England. Elkan began his work as a sculptor in his hometown of Dortmund with grave monuments . He later portrayed military men, statesmen, scientists and artists, especially from Germany, France and England in busts and medals. Elkan was banned from working as a Jewish artist in 1935 and emigrated to London. In Germany he was initially forgotten until his works were shown again in exhibitions in the 1950s. Elkan's work cannot be assigned to any particular style . It was only in the last few years that he became known as one of the first German football pioneers.

Life

Childhood and youth in Dortmund

Elkan was the only child of master tailor Salomon Elkan, co-owner of a men's textile business in downtown Dortmund, and his wife Rosalie (* 1861 in Heidelberg ). Here he also attended the municipal high school (then "Schola Tremoniae") up to the " one year old ". In Elkan’s youth, Dortmund was a city in which the small Jewish community (1,306 of 90,000 inhabitants in 1890) was able to successfully establish itself, as indicated by the construction of a large synagogue and the integration of a Jewish area in the Ostenfriedhof . As far as is known, Benno Elkan took part in the life of the Jewish community, celebrated his bar mitzvah and attended Jewish religious instruction at the grammar school.

Wandering years

The Wandering Woman, 1904, Ostenfriedhof Dortmund , Wk-No. 108, detail

In order to improve his language skills, after graduating from secondary school in 1893/94 , Elkan attended the private boys' boarding school at Château du Rosey in Rolle on Lake Geneva, which had existed since 1880 . Here he got to know and love football through his English classmates. With some like-minded people, Benno Elkan founded the Dortmund FC 95 in 1895, later the Dortmund SC 95 , and thus Dortmund's oldest football club.

In Antwerp he briefly carried out a commercial activity, but broke it off with the consent of his parents in order to prepare himself for the entrance examination of the art academy at the private art school of the painter Walter Thor in Munich from December 1897 . After passing his exam at Easter 1898, he studied at the art academy with the painter Johann Caspar Herterich . On February 27, 1900, he became a founding member of FC Bayern Munich . In the same year he did his military service as a one-year volunteer and then continued his art studies with the painter Friedrich Fehr in Karlsruhe in 1901 .

There he made the decision in 1903 to dedicate himself exclusively to sculpture. Benno Elkan received his first job as a sculptor from his hometown of Dortmund. The then editor-in-chief of the Dortmund General-Anzeiger , Karl Richter, had the young sculptor create a life-size female figure for the grave of the Richter-Seippel family. The resulting figure “ Wandering ”, which symbolizes life as a tentative search for the right path, is preserved at the Ostenfriedhof Dortmund. Although Elkan was self-taught as a sculptor , the Dortmund audience was impressed.

In Karlsruhe Elkan also met his future wife, the pianist Hedwig Einstein , a sister of the art historian Carl Einstein , whom he married in 1907.

Paris

Auguste Rodin, drawn by Alphonse Legros

At the beginning of 1905 Elkan went to Paris , where he lived in a studio with the sculptor Julius Steiner and the American painter Patrick Henry Bruce . As early as 1905 Elkan was able to show some works in an exhibition of the Société nationale des beaux-arts . In the French capital he met Auguste Rodin , who made a deep impression on the young sculptor. Benno Elkan writes about an encounter with Rodin:

"I was [...] deeply moved, I, who was fighting for my own path, faced the ultimate perfection, the epitome of strength, the artist who embodied in himself the living arm of many centuries."

Elkan's Paris works, however, initially show little of Rodin's influence. Rodin's effect is more evident in Elkan's late work, for example in the narrative works such as the large church candlesticks with images from the Bible, which are also influenced by Lorenzo Ghiberti's gate of paradise at the Baptistery of the Florentine Cathedral . In Elkan's last work, the memorial to the victims of the bombing war, the model of Rodin's Hell Gate can be found again. In the Parisian works such as the sculpture "Flute Player" (1906), more contemporary influences of Art Nouveau can be seen .

Although Elkan took intensive impressions from the Paris area, he did not join any of the modern currents or groups. A friendship developed with the expressionist painter Jules Pascin (actually Julius Mordecai Pinkas), who had already drawn for Simplicissimus . At the same time, however, Elkan kept in touch with Karlsruhe, where his fiancée lived, and with Dortmund, and created more tombs for the Dortmund East Cemetery. During a visit he also made first contacts with his sponsor Karl Ernst Osthaus , whom he referred to his monuments at the east cemetery in Dortmund. In his dissertation on Elkan, Menzel-Severing assumes that his participation in the German Art Exhibition in Cologne in 1906 was due to the support of Osthaus.

In 1906 Elkan then designed his first solo exhibition. In the old Dortmund city hall he showed busts and sculptures. It remained Elkan’s only exhibition in his hometown until after the Second World War , although Elkan did take part in exhibitions, around 1908, 1910 and 1912 in the Kunsthalle Bremen (because of his membership in the German Association of Artists ), in Wiesbaden in 1915 for the museum opening or the 25th DKB annual exhibition in 1929 in the State House in Cologne , where he showed the bronze sculpture Tatjana Barbakoff , created the year before .

Rome

Lorenzo Ghiberti , Door of Paradise: Solomon meets the Queen of Saaba . Baptistery of San Giovanni , Florence

1907-1911 Elkan and his wife lived in Rome after the Rome Prize of Michael Beer had won Foundation. From 1907 to 1909 Elkan was given a studio on the grounds of the Villa Strohl-Fern . They lived there in a palazzo that became the palace of Pope Julius III. Heard the studio was on Via Quattro Fontane. In Italy Elkan went on various trips, including a. to Naples and Florence . He studied the sculpture of the Renaissance intensively .

In 1910 the eldest daughter Ursula was born (later wife of the pianist of the Comedian Harmonists Erwin Bootz ), three years later the son Wolf.

Elkan also worked on commissions from Dortmund in Rome, such as the grave sculpture death corridor and the Persephone sculptures. The influences of the Italian environment are particularly evident in the large grave sculpture Sermon on the Mount  (1909), a three-part relief for the grave of Pastor Karl Evertsbusch in Bad Godesberg . The relief depicts Jesus preaching in the middle panel, the followers on the right and the opponents on the left. Elkan realized the transitions between the panels using large figures, following the example of Donatello's relief in the altar of Dom S. Antonio in Padua. The painterly design of the relief ground is inspired by Ghiberti's doors to paradise.

In Rome, Elkan worked with stone for the first time, deliberately dealing with antiquity. On his departure from Rome he took material from ancient ruins with him.

Alsbach an der Bergstrasse

After his return from Rome, first Elkan lived from 1911 to 1919 in Alsbach, near Darmstadt in their own house, where he was in 1912 by Heidelberg from Friedrich Burschell and Ernst Blass visited. In Alsbach, Elkan created various commissioned works, such as the medals for the death of Gustav Mahler or with the portrait of Frank Wedekind . He also made new portrait busts, for example the portrait of Alfred Flechtheim in 1912 . For the Jewish cemetery on the Roßweide in Wickrath , today a district of Mönchengladbach , Elkan designed the first of his large stone monuments in 1912, the "Lamentation Stone", which was visually linked to the Dortmund monument "Murder of Death" in Dortmund.

During his time in Alsbach, Elkan was in close contact with the writer René Schickele , who used the name Elkans, slightly alienated, for an unfinished novel project: "Benkal, the woman's comforter" (Leipzig 1914).

In 1914 Elkan was called up for military service. Until he contracted cholera , he served as a supply officer in Poland , and later in the postal surveillance department in Frankfurt am Main . Elkan recorded his Polish war impressions in the book “Polish Night Pieces”, which he illustrated with dark pen drawings. In this context, Elkan's medal in memory of Field Marshal August von Mackensen is noteworthy .

Frankfurt years

The family had lived in Frankfurt am Main since October 1919 , where Elkan was able to establish himself in cultural life. The family kept the house in Alsbach as a summer residence. As early as 1919 he was chairman of the artists' council in Frankfurt, which was supposed to represent the interests of artists at the city's magistrate. Elkan writes that the artists' council achieved “that many orders were given for the city's account.” Menzel-Severing suggests that Elkan was a supporter of the Spartakusbund in the immediate post-war period . Benno Elkan ran a large house in the middle-class Frankfurt-Westend , where he received numerous guests from cultural life. His studio was in the Karmelitergasse in the cloister of the Carmelite monastery .

Memorial Heroes' Lament ("The Victims") in the Frankfurt Gallusanlage

In 1919 Elkan was commissioned by the city of Frankfurt to create a memorial for the victims of the First World War . Elkan first designed a monumental 40 meter high stele with the relief of a young man. In comparison, data and facts from 1913 and 1919 should make the devastating consequences of the world war clear.

This pacifist draft was not implemented; Instead, the city of Frankfurt bought Elkan's Heldenklage , a sculpture made in Alsbach in 1913/14 . The monument on the corner of Kaiserstrasse and Gallusanlage was inaugurated on October 3, 1920 . The memorial came under criticism from national circles because it broke with the tradition of martial war memorials with the inscription "To the victims" and the mourning mother figure.

“The only inscription was: 'To the victims.' This memorial soon became quite famous in Germany and beyond the German borders because it seemed to express the universal pain and sacrifice that the war had brought for everyone, for every wife and mother in every country. But soon after the unveiling of this monument, some of the smaller newspapers belonging to a group that called themselves 'German-Völkisch' at the time began to attack my father and call his monument 'un-German'. "

Benno Elkan was not intimidated by the nationalist criticism. When the city of Völklingen decided to erect a memorial for the victims of the First World War, he took on the job. The Völklingen monument also showed a grieving female figure, which Elkan made twice life-size in polished, black Odenwald granite. The mourner, crouching on the floor, nestled her head tilted to the right in her hands. The inscription on the light gray, almost white base read "All victims" and made the intention of the monument in Frankfurt explicitly clear again. The memorial was opened on June 7, 1925 together with the relocated war memorial for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. In his inauguration speech, the then Mayor of Völklingen, Karl Janssen, interpreted the inscription in such a way that “all material and non-material victims” are meant, not those of the opponent. He emphasized the fact that the Saarland is part of a democratic Germany.

In Völklingen, too, the memorial was protested by national circles, especially the German-Völkische Freedom Party and the German National Youth Association . Despite the fierce criticism from German national circles, the strong expression of mourning conveyed by the memorial became the occasion for a replica: In 1929, a variant of the Völklingen figure about half the size was erected in the municipality of Cunewalde in the Bautzen district , this time in bronze. The years of the First World War were added to the inscription. The names of 109 fallen soldiers from the region were engraved on an intermediate plinth. Another 90 cm high replica of the sculpture can be found on the grave of Hedwig and Benno Elkan in the Liberal Jewish Cemetery of Willesden Green in the London Borough of Brent . Benno Elkan described the Völklingen sculpture as "perhaps his most beautiful figure".

Unveiling of the 1930 Liberation Monument in Mainz

In the late 1920s, Elkan's work received increasing attention. He was invited to a representative exhibition “German Art” in the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (May 2 to October 1928), which brought together leading modern artists from Germany, German Austria and Switzerland. Elkan now received high fees for his work, a bronze portrait cost around 5,000 Reichsmarks . In Frankfurt Elkan made a large circle of friends, he collected contemporary art himself and was interested in music, theater and literature. He published articles on art theory in the journal German Art and Decoration and wrote literary works that he illustrated himself, around 1918 the collection Polish Night Pieces on his war impressions in Poland or in 1926 the work Spain, seen by an artist . Another travel manuscript with the title Art Journey through France was found unpublished in the estate . In 1921 he published the children's book Die Große Reise der Aante Clementine , in 1927 he wrote the libretto for Ernst Toch's opera The Princess on the Pea .

In 1930 another politically motivated work caused Elkan great sensation. In the presence of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg , the liberation monument was unveiled on Schillerplatz in Mainz . The occasion was the end of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland , during which Mainz was occupied by French troops. The monument with the title Freedom showed a 3.5 to 4 meter high female figure with a naked torso, carved out of stone. With her head bent back, the woman seemed to be awakening from a difficult time and looking into a better future, as the Mainzer Anzeiger interpreted it . Elkan's work here was in the context of an awakening national enthusiasm that would drive him and his family out of Germany a short time later. The work was criticized from the start because of the exposed female figure. In Mainz, too, the first anti-Semitic activities began shortly after the withdrawal of the French troops . The memorial was removed at the end of March 1933 on the initiative of the provisional Mayor of Mainz, Philipp Wilhelm Jung , and was later destroyed due to his political statement and the artist's Jewish origins.

Exile in England

Knesset menorah, Moses

Immediately after the National Socialist seizure of power in 1933, many of Elkan's works were removed from public space, and house searches followed. In a letter from the Reich Chamber of Culture dated February 12, 1935, Elkan's application for membership in the “ Reich Chamber of Fine Arts , Association of German Sculptors” was rejected “in accordance with Section 10 of the first ordinance for the implementation of the Reich Chamber of Culture Act of November 1, 1933 ( RGBl. I p . 797) ... because you are non-Aryans and as such do not have the suitability and reliability required for the creation of German cultural assets. ” He was forbidden to continue his profession.

Elkan's family also came under increasing pressure. Immediately in 1933 an SS storm "V 2 SS" under the law trainee Georg-Wilhelm Müller began to terrorize Jewish and politically unpopular students at Frankfurt University . Elkan's son was marginalized and spied on and eventually had to leave university. Wolf Elkan first tried to complete his studies in Berlin and Heidelberg, but eventually fled via Rome and England to the USA, where his sister Ursula also emigrated.

Under increasing pressure, Benno Elkan began preparing to emigrate in 1933 . The exact date of his departure for London is not known. He managed to take at least some of his works, models and private property with him. He presumably made the first preparations for this during a business stay in London in the summer of 1933. Benno Elkan's final departure probably took place around the end of 1934. Before he emigrated, he still had the opportunity to stay at the Falkensteiner Rest Home .

Elkan first lived in a studio house in Paddington , and later with the family in a house at Exeter Road 26. One work from this period is a group of orangutans that are now in Edinburgh Zoo . As early as 1934 Elkan took part in an exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts with the bust of John D. Rockefeller . In 1935 Elkan took a trip to Lausanne . There he portrayed the Swiss Minister Stucki and the young King of Siam ( Ananda Mahidol ) and in 1937 the Prince Edward of Kent . The Knoedler Gallery organized Elkan’s first solo exhibition in London in November 1936.

From London he also took part in an exhibition in Berlin: in 1936 the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden organized the “1. Reich Exhibition of Jewish Artists ”, at which Elkan's works were also shown.

In England Elkan made bronze candlesticks for Buckfast Abbey in Devon and other work on behalf of the local abbot. Other candlesticks and portrait busts of well-known personalities show that Benno Elkan was able to quickly gain a foothold in England. He portrayed, for example, Jakob Rothschild and Arturo Toscanini . In 1938, in memory of Rudyard Kipling , Elkan designed a large lead relief showing characters from the jungle book . After Elkan's house in London was damaged in a bomb attack in 1943, he moved to a floor in the house of psychoanalyst Eva Rosenfeld in Oxford . In the same year the portrait bust of the economist Lord Beveridge was created . After the war, Elkan went on a long trip to see his children in the United States.

In 1949/50 he created the "Fighting Cockerel" (a fighting cock that holds a football in its griffins), the emblem of Tottenham Hotspur, on behalf of Sir Bracewell Smith, President of Arsenal London . In March 1950, Arsenal gave the 43 cm sculpture to the "Spurs" as a thank you for being able to train and play on the Tottenham square from 1941 onwards. The Gunners' own sports grounds in Highbury were razed to the ground by a German incendiary bomb.

Detail of the menorah ( Ezekiel )

On the occasion of the work on the large candlestick for the Parliament in Israel, the first partial reliefs of this work are said to have been shown in England in the 1950s.

Travel and contacts to Germany

Elkan also traveled to Germany in the 1950s. In 1953, on the occasion of a trip to the Taunus , he organized an exhibition of his works in Frankfurt in the art cabinet of Hanna Bekker vom Rath for 1954, which also aroused interest in his home town of Dortmund. In 1956, an exhibition of some of Elkan's works was finally opened in the Dortmund town hall, but the planned large-scale exhibition with catalog failed. In addition, the works were not shown with paintings by Arthur Kampf , as requested by Elkan , but with reproductions by Bernhard Hoetger .

Elkan had been pursuing the idea of ​​a memorial for the bomb victims since the war. In 1955 he wrote to Erich Leue from Dortmund :

“The idea came to me during the war, when we, like you over in Germany, were looking for protection from the bombs. […] I want […] with this memorial, which does not want to glorify any particular ideology and play no nation against another, to help restore the injured human dignity. "

In 1959 Elkan made a clay model of the monument, of which photos have been preserved. It showed the sufferings of the broken victims in the rubble made of large stone blocks. Elkan initially wanted to erect the memorial in Frankfurt, which was rejected there after public discussions. Elkan's friend Erich Leue tried to arouse interest in the project in Dortmund. But here too there was no realization. The plaster model of the memorial can be found in the register of the estate, but it is now considered lost.

The great menorah

Menorah for the Knesset in Jerusalem

Sickness and death

In 1957 Elkan received the Order of the British Empire . After suffering health problems since 1956, he died in London in 1960 - three months after his wife. The artist's estate was auctioned in 153 lots on November 6, 1960 by Christie's London auction house . The Dortmund Institute for Newspaper Research acquired some pieces that were later given to the Museum am Ostwall . The Dortmund cultural department head Alfons Spielhoff made a request to Christie's regarding the unsold pieces. At the end of 1961, the Museum am Ostwall bought four busts and 52 drawings. Some of Elkan's medals survived the war in the Cappenberg Museum. In 2011 the Museum for Art and Cultural History in Dortmund organized an exhibition of selected drawings, busts and medals, which also presented photos of tombs and sculptures.

“Artistically, Benno Elkan mastered all genres from portrait busts to large sculptures, from anatomy illustrations to tombs. He shone with pieces of fantastic literature, travelogues, libretti. "

plant

Tribe of the great menorah

Due to the eventful life of Benno Elkan and the expulsion by the Nazi regime, the works are widely scattered, some sculptures can be found in Elkan's former hometown of Dortmund, especially in the east cemetery in Dortmund , in the museum on the east wall and a head of Christ with a crown of thorns, which was originally was on the grave of the Feuerbaum family in the Ostenfriedhof, which was destroyed in World War II, in Dortmund's Marienkirche .

Interest in Benno Elkan’s work is kept alive primarily through the Great Menorah. In 2008 the motifs of the candlestick in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem were presented in a traveling exhibition "The Menorah - A Walk Through the History of Israel" in Nuremberg, Leer and Nordhorn.

Most of Benno Elkan's works have been recorded and numbered consecutively by Menzel-Severing in a catalog. The numbering of the objects described here refer to this catalog raisonné. The works presented here are representative examples, not a complete list. The accessibility of free photographs and their mention in the article also played a role in the selection.

In his dissertation, Menzel-Severing tries to locate a turning point in Elkan's work and describes the work after 1940 as "old work". The change from a strict "treatment of form in favor of a more spontaneous, painterly way of working" is particularly evident in the candlesticks. Above all, narration now plays an essential role.

Elkan has often been characterized as an eclectic . Menzel-Severing explains this in part by the fact that Elkan cannot be assigned to any current of his time and has also developed a very variable design language. Heinrich Strauss understood Elkan's eclecticism as the “result of the emancipation efforts of a Jewish artist who is no longer embedded in the cultural community and had to find his way alone in a changed world”. Despite all the differences, Menzel-Severing also sees influences from Expressionism in Elkan , especially in the emphasis on expressive, artistic expression in Elkan. According to Menzel-Severing, the variety of forms also arises from the movement between the design poles “nature or vision”.

Busts and sculptures

Grave monument "Resurrection", detail
The Wandering Woman, 1904, Ostenfriedhof Dortmund , Wk-No. 108

The busts of Benno Elkan portray artists, politicians, industrialists, the military, scientists and also locally important personalities. The examples listed here show that Elkan had managed to make a name for itself beyond Germany. Elkan did not work out many of his busts in long sessions with a sketch pad, but tried in long conversations to grasp the character of the person being depicted and then quickly created a clay model from memory.

With regard to many of Elkan's portrait busts, Menzel-Severing speaks of an “official, almost monumental effect” in the style of ancient imperial portraits, such as the head of Carl Einstein or the portrait of Rathenau. Other works by Elkan are less sculptural-abstract, but complemented by “painterly-plastic” details, such as the busts of Irmgard Egeling and Anna Richter.

Medals and Plaques

Grave monument "Man with an extinguished torch"
Grave monument "Seated boy playing the flute", 1906/1907

Benno Elkan was interested in the creation of medals from 1903 until the 1950s , and since 1905 he has received regular commissions in this field, a field of activity for visual artists that was rather rare in the 20th century. Elkan took part in the competition for the coins of 1908/9 without success. He designed medals in various formats, from coin to palm size. The medals are dedicated to people from politics and art, including some Dortmund personalities.

Menzel-Severing attributes Elkan's early interest in medals to his beginnings as a painter and draftsman and sees the miniature reliefs as a transition to sculpture. Elkan's medal art was recognized early on, experts are consistently positive: "Among the artists who began to dedicate themselves to the cast medal during this time, Benno Elkan is ... probably the greatest."

  • 1904: Carl Schäfer , professor at the Academy of Arts in Karlsruhe , bronze, 9.9 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1904: Hans Thoma , one-sided cast bronze, burnished, 8.9 cm, 298 g, inscription: HANS THOMA - MCMIV, Kunsthalle Bremen
  • around 1905: Mudding Richter , one-sided cast bronze, burnished, 9.1 cm, 176 g, inscription: MUDDING - RICHTER, acquired from the Kunsthalle Bremen in 1909
  • around 1904: Gustav Wendt , one-sided cast bronze, burnished, 9.1 cm, 398 g, inscription: GEH.RAT Dr. - G. WENDT, acquired from the Kunsthalle Bremen in 1909, Wk-No. 150
  • 1906: Ludwig Dill , painter in Karlsruhe, bronze, 8.1 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1906: Maurice Rouvier , French Prime Minister, bronze, 7.7 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • around 1906: Armand Fallières , President of the French Republic, bronze, 7.8 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • before 1909: Émile Combes , President of the French Council of Ministers (June 7, 1902– January 24, 1905), double-sided cast bronze, burnished, 9.3 cm, 444 g, acquired in 1909 from the Kunsthalle Bremen
  • before 1909: Max Laeuger , one-sided cast bronze, burnished, 8.0 × 7.6 cm (octagonal), 188 g, acquired from the Kunsthalle Bremen in 1909
  • before 1909: Albert Bürklin , politician and long-time member of the National Liberal Party in the Reichstag, General Director of the Karlsruhe Court Theater, one-sided cast bronze, burnished, 9.7 cm, 303 g, inscription: GEN: INTEND.EXC.DR.ALB.BÜRKLIN, acquired in 1909 from the Kunsthalle Bremen, Wk-No. 147
  • 1909: Hans Thoma , painter, professor at the Academy of Arts in Karlsruhe 1899–1919, 8.3 cm, Museum am Ostwall, Wk-No. 154
  • 1910: Heinrich Kirchhoff , for whom Elkan also created the grave monument (see below Persephone), Dortmund citizen, bronze 9.8 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1911/12: Gustav Mahler , composer, bronze, 12.7 cm, front profile left, inscription GUSTAV MAHLER, backside naked figure consumed by fire, an allegory of Mahler's early death, Museum am Ostwall
  • around 1912: Wilhelm Leibl and Johann Sperl , both painters, plaque, bronze 8.6 × 9.1 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1914: Frank Wedekind , writer, bronze, 8.3 cm, on the reverse Pegasus on a ball, signature Benno Elkan, Museum am Ostwall
  • around 1915: General Mackensen, profile, looking to the left, 7.9 cm, cast iron, signed to the right of the profile, reverse male figure with hammer, inscription MACKENSEN
  • 1922: Gerhart Hauptmann , double-sided cast bronze, burnished, 13.5 cm, 1107 g, inscription (obverse): 1922 GERHART HAUPTMANN, front and back BENNO ELKAN, Kunsthalle Bremen
  • 1924: Hedwig Elkan, b. Einstein, dedication "MEINE LIEBE FRAU", front portrait in profile, back female. Nude with lyre, bronze, 11 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1925: Friedrich Ebert , the first German Reich President, bronze 12.6 cm, reverse standard bearer, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Münzkabinett, exhibited in the Bode-Museum, Wk-No. 255
  • 1925: Louis Hagen , banker and president of the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce, reverse Hermes figure, bronze 10 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1925: Richard von Schnitzler , banker, industrialist (IG Farben), patron, bronze, 12 cm, Museum am Ostwall
  • 1927: Bronze medal for the 400th anniversary of the Philipps University of Marburg. Half-left portrait of Landgrave Philipp von Hessen , castle above a stylized cityscape, 4.6 cm, inscription front: PHILIP.LANDGRAF.ZU.HESSEN, back: PHILIPPS-UNIVERSITÄT MARBURG 1527 1927
  • 1931: 30 medals for the plaque of the Medical Faculty of the University of Frankfurt, silver, obverse Karl Weigert and Paul Ehrlich , reverse inscription: The Medical Faculty of the University of Frankfurt am Main the patron of the sciences, name of the recipient
  • 1931: Medal for Alfons Paquet's 50th birthday on behalf of the City of Frankfurt
  • 1944: Carl Flesch , violinist

Monuments

Persephone, memorial at Dortmund's Ostenfriedhof

With the exception of two tombs in England, Benno Elkan's grave monuments date from before 1927. Up to this point in time, Elkan's work in this area was so extensive that one in Frankfurt is said to have joked in a modification of the well-known proverb: «de mortuis nihil nisi Benno» ( About the dead only Benno). The monuments show, such as the Dortmund head of Christ or the tomb “Sermon on the Mount” in the castle cemetery in Bad Godesberg , partly also Christian motifs. Typical of the pictorial language of Elkan’s grave monuments, however, are more conventional symbols of death, such as sleep, the extinguished torch, urns, the last way, etc. In some cases the deceased is also represented in the form of a bust or medal.

Despite this conventional iconography , the grave monuments were artistically innovative primarily because they confronted grief and death with female sensuality. The implementation of this ambivalence is particularly clear in Elkan's figure of Persephone from 1908. The figure also shows the exuberant femininity of the daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter , both in her posture with the highlighted line of the hip and in the symbol of the fruits that she is in holds hands, but also expresses sadness and absorption. Another typical feature of Elkan's imagery is the woman's head, which is inclined to one side, and the neckline that is emphasized as a result.

Menzel-Severing points to the basic geometric structures of many Elkan monuments, which he traces back to the influence of the theory of “simple volume representation” by the sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand . Elkan's figures often appeared in a clearly delimited, rectangular room. In addition, the figures themselves are often characterized by clear diagonals - for example the shoulder line, almost overstretched neck, head tilted to one side. HK Zimmermann had already shown this in 1921 for Elkan's "heroic lament": "The huddled limbs of the mighty body seem to be spanned by a square of tight contours ..." Menzel-Severing speaks of "blockiness" in relation to the Völklingen monument.

If you look at the images of the monuments and especially the reliefs in public space, the poor condition of the works of art becomes very clear. Some of Elkan's works in Dortmund's Ostfriedhof will not last for many years.

  • Gravestones in the Ostenfriedhof Dortmund
    • Wandering , 1904, inscription: "AND THOSE WHO HAVE CHANGED RIGHT BEFORE THEM / COME TO PEACE JESAIA 57 2", according to Menzel-Severing influenced by "neo-baroque models of the Begas school"
    • Relief “Crouching”, 52 cm × 47 cm, 1905, signed, Alex Mendelsohn's grave
    • Christ's head for the grave of the Feuerbaum family, today in the Marienkirche in Dortmund
    • Resurrection , 1905, inscription: "SHE SOUNDS THE TRUMPET / THE DEAD RISK", 78 cm × 112 cm, signature: "BENNO / ELKAN / PARIS / 05", foundry ALEXIS RUDIER FONDEUR PARIS
    • Seated boy playing the flute , 1906/1907, burial place Hermann Weeck, marble, 41 cm × 33.5 cm, signed, Wk-Nr. 112
    • Melcher family tomb, 1908 , formerly with a bust of GA Melcher (bronze, 50 cm high, removed), structures of the tomb made of shell limestone , relief made of Roman travertine , 84 cm × 105 cm, heavily weathered, wk-no. 114
    • Persephone , 1908, grave of Heinrich Kirchhoff at the Ostenfriedhof Dortmund, approx. 200 cm, unsigned, Wk-Nr. 115; 1910 polychrome setting made of "different types of stone, marble and semi-precious stone, ... corridor of Apáczaci Csere János Utca 3, Budapest ", the latter Wk-Nr. 10
    • Cause of death , 1910, Wk-No. 118
    • Kneeling man with extinguished torch , 1910
    • Resting, 1910 (lost), Wk-No. 123
  • Around 1910 Adolf Hirsch's tomb in the Karlsruhe main cemetery (bronze plaque identical to the Schmidt tomb in Dortmund), tomb no longer available
  • 1913/1914 "Heldenklage", dark green, polished granite, erected in Frankfurt am Main in 1920 as a memorial for the victims of the First World War, WWI no. 25, removed by the National Socialists in 1933; The sculpture happened to be preserved in the municipal street cleaning depot despite the planned destruction. On April 18, 1946, the memorial was restored to its original location.
  • 1919: Tomb for Frank Wedekind , Pegasus balancing on a ball on a column, Wk-Nr. 67
  • 1925: Memorial for the victims of the First World War on the Völklingen cemetery of honor, figure "the mourners" on a plinth with the inscription "ALLEN OPFERN", unveiled on June 7, 1925, destroyed by the National Socialists in 1935, Wk-Nr. 77
  • 1927: Hans Thoma tomb (sandstone / bronze), putti and monogram by Konrad Taucher , Karlsruhe main cemetery
  • 1930: Mainz , Schillerplatz , memorial for the liberation of the Rhineland , Wk-No. 49, symbolized by an awakening, rising woman (unveiled by Reich President Hindenburg on July 1, 1930, demolished by the National Socialists in 1933, temporarily stored on a Rheinaue and later blown up)
  • 1938: Orangutan Group , Edinburgh Zoo
  • 1939: Moglie's Jungle Friends , Windsor
  • 1939: The Old and New Bunds , Westminster Abbey , London
  • 1959: Memorial for the defenseless victims of the bombing war (draft not carried out, only photos of a clay model preserved, see section Virtual Memorial )

chandelier

Menorah before the Knesset, detail

From 1921 to 1956 Benno Elkan created a total of ten seven-armed candlesticks (Menorot), including his most famous work, the great menorah in front of the Israeli parliament (the Knesset ) in Jerusalem . Elkan only worked directly for a synagogue in one case ; several works were created for Christian institutions such as Westminster Abbey or Buckfast Abbey , which was also reflected in the depiction of scenes from the New Testament.

"If everything were forgotten, I would survive as the creator of these strange figured candlesticks."

  • 1921–1931: Old Testament candlestick, 2 m high, 2.20 m wide, 32 individual figures, bronze, cast in Frankfurt, Wk-No. 310, donated in 1939 by a member of the House of Lords to Westminster Abbey, previously exhibited several times in Germany and England
  • around 1925: "The five Maccabees ", 68.6 cm high, nine candles, signed, Alexander Margulies Collection, London, Wk-No. 311
  • 1927: two candlesticks and wrought iron bars on the lectern for the synagogue in Bruchsal , Wk-Nr. Grid 312
  • 1934: Candlesticks for King's College Chapel in Cambridge, Wk-No. 313
  • 1936: "The Four Cardinal Virtues", Buckfast Abbey , 251 cm high, Wk-No. 314
  • 1938: "Annunciation", New College Chapel Oxford, 1.06 m, 0.62 m wide, Wk-Nr. 315
  • 1942: Candlestick of the New Testament, Westminster Abbey, height 1.83 m, width 2.13 m, 31 figures, Wk-No. 317
  • 1943–1945: "Der Davids-Leuchter", nine-armed chandelier, bronze, 2.14 m high, whereabouts unknown, Wk-Nr. 318
  • 1944/1945: "The four prophets", Buckfast Abbey, bronze, 2.52 m high, Wk-Nr. 319
  • 1949–1956: Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem, 4.47 m high, 3.65 m wide, 29 reliefs, Wk-No. 320

Publications and drawings

Melcher family tomb
  • Polish night pieces. With pen drawings by the artist, Delphin Verlag, Munich 1918.
  • Bernhard Fischer: The section course. Brief instructions for the pathological-anatomical examination of human corpses. (with the assistance of E. Goldschmid, Prosektor and Benno Elkan, sculptor; with 92 drawings, some in color) JF Bergmann, Wiesbaden 1919. Drawings by Benno Elkan
  • Aunt Clementine's great journey. Narrated and provided with many pictures by Benno Elkan, Althoff Verlag, Leipzig 1921.
  • Roman mask. A commemorative publication of fantastic satire and satirical fantasy. Frankfurt am Main 1925. (124 p. With numerous, partly colored illustrations and drawings; “On the occasion and in memory of the masked ball of color. Organized by the association of active friends of the old town and under the praiseworthy presidium of the city treasurer Doctor Heinrich Anastasius Langer in all rooms of the venerable dance house Germaniae in the Römer of the city of Frankfurt am Main on February 21, 1925. ")
  • Spain seen by an artist. With 32 pen drawings by the author, Delphin-Verlag, Munich 1926.
  • Libretto for the musical fairy tale The Princess and the Pea by Ernst Toch (1887–1964), based on Hans Christian Andersen . B. Schott Söhne, Mainz 1927., world premiere on July 17, 1927 in Baden-Baden (in the repertoire of the Cologne Children's Opera 2008)

Honors

  • In April 2016, a street on the Dortmunder U between Ritterstraße and Emil-Moog- Platz in his native Dortmund was named after Elkan, Benno-Elkan-Allee . It is reminiscent of the sculptor and football pioneer , as it says on the street sign. The guest of honor at the official inauguration was Beryn Hammil, the granddaughter of Benno Elkan who lives in the USA. Reinhard Rauball , president of the Borussia Dortmund soccer club, was among the participants .

Virtual memorial: memorial for the defenseless victims of the bombing war

Beryn Hammil, Benno Elkan's granddaughter, who lives in the USA, was the guest of honor at the official inauguration of Benno-Elkan-Allee in 2016. There she suggested the completion of the memorial for the defenseless victims of the bombing war under the title Benno's Dream, which was started in 1959 . Asked by Ullrich Sierau , the Lord Mayor of Dortmund, Gerd Kolbe, former head of the Dortmund press office, and Wolfgang E. Weick, former head of the Dortmund Museum of Art and Cultural History , started looking for ways to make it come true . They found the support of Professor Heinrich Müller from the Chair of Graphic Systems, Computer Science VII at the Technical University of Dortmund and Markus Rall, CEO of viality , a full-service provider for the conception and implementation of digital information systems in the Dortmund Technology Center . Both teams worked on a voluntary basis for a year with the help of photogrammetric and other graphic programs to implement this idea.

On Elkan’s 140th birthday in December 2017, Mayor Ullrich Sierau was able to declare that “Benno's dream” can come true in Dortmund: The memorial will be computer-assisted and presented as a 3-D reconstruction in augmented reality (AR) , visible with special glasses and modern smartphones and tablets. The historical association for Dortmund and the Grafschaft Mark with the chairman former mayor Adolf Miksch made itself available as project sponsor, as sponsor the Sparkasse Dortmund with its chairman Uwe Samulewicz was won.

On August 31, 2018, Germany's most modern monument was presented to the public in the Orchestra Center NRW .

The Museum of Art and Cultural History in Dortmund is showing the 3-D reconstruction of the memorial on the 4th floor of the exhibition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives (Ed.): Völklinger Treasures. (Special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial to commemorate the victims of the First World War) Völklingen 2008, p. 3. (In 1898, after Hans Menzel-Severing's dissertation (p. 9), Elkan was co-owner of the men's clothing shop Braun & Elkan, Reinoldistraße 23. )
  2. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 12 and p. 20
  3. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 19.
  4. ↑ https://www.dortmund.de/de/leben_in_dortmund/nachrichtenportal/alle_nachrichten/nachricht.jsp?nid=375708 Football crazy and world-famous artist
  5. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 12.
  6. ^ The Dortmund Museum am Ostwall has drawings from this period - Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation, p. 11.
  7. ↑ Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation, p. 11.
  8. ↑ Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation, p. 11 f.
  9. ↑ Benno Elkan wrote in a résumé: “It will be tough for me, but I had school long enough. What can be learned, I hope to make accessible to myself through deep self-study. ”- quoted from Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation, p. 12.
  10. ↑ Cf. Menzel-Severing, Hans, Der Bildhauer Benno Elkan, dissertation, p. 12.
  11. ↑ Benno Elkan, The Third Hand of Rodin, typewritten essay n.d. (~ 1950), quoted from Menzel-Severing, Hans, Der Bildhauer Benno Elkan, dissertation, pp. 13 and 264.
  12. ↑ on Rodin's influences and during Elkan's time in Paris see Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 62ff.
  13. ↑ Cf. Menzel-Severing, Hans, Der Bildhauer Benno Elkan, dissertation, p. 16.
  14. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 74 f.
  15. ↑ Cf. the catalog of the Kunsthalle: “German Art Exhibition. In connection with a special exhibition of the Association of Northwest German Artists. 36th Large Exhibition of the Art Association ”, without images, February 15–20. April 1908. ( Memento from June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) as well as the catalog “German Association of Artists, Great Exhibition in the Kunsthalle Bremen”, 47 images, February 1–31. March 1912
  16. ↑ "The Great Art Exhibition for the Museum Inauguration" 1915
  17. ↑ s. Exhibition catalog of the Deutscher Künstlerbund Cologne 1929. May - September 1929 in the State House , M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1929. (p. 17)
  18. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 13.
  19. ↑ Deviating information on the time and place of residence in Rome in Friedrich Noack : Das Deutschtum in Rom since the end of the Middle Ages . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1927, Volume 2, p. 159.
  20. ^ Prussian Academy of the Arts (PrAdK 0731). Studio rental in Rome for scholarship holders of the Academy (Villa Strohl-Fern) - reports on the work, rent payment, etc. The following scholarship holders or guests in Rome: Benno Elkan 1907 to 1909 (Bl. 158, 184, 193, 196f., 199, 201, 204, 206, 211f., 214).
  21. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 17ff.
  22. ↑ Erwin Bootz divorced her in 1938
  23. ↑ Wk-Nr. 117.
  24. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 70ff.
  25. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 19.
  26. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 13
  27. ^ In a letter to the Frankfurt City Councilor Schaub of April 9, 1954, quoted from: Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 24.
  28. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 25.
  29. ↑ Werner Gross, Gert Preiser (ed.), The plaque of the Medical Faculty of the University of Frankfurt am Main, p. 33.
  30. ↑ Elkan received 25,000 gold marks for the memorial through private donations ; see. Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 28.
  31. ^ Internet site on Frankfurt 1933–45
  32. ↑ Wolf Elkan, Memoirs, quoted from: Aylke Bartmann / Ursula Blömer / Detlef Garz (eds.): 'We were the state youth, but the state was weak'. Jewish childhood and youth in Germany and Austria between the end of the war and National Socialist rule. Series: Oldenburg Contributions to Jewish Studies Vol. 14 Oldenburg 2003 p. 143.
  33. ↑ Cf. Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives, Völklinger Treasures, The Monument to All Victims by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen, special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial commemorating the victims of the First World War, Völklingen 2008, p. 4.
  34. ↑ Quoted from: Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives, Völklinger Treasures, The Monument to All Victims by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen, special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial to commemorate the victims of the First World War, Völklingen 2008, p. 6.
  35. ↑ Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives, Völklinger Treasures, The Monument to All Victims by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen, special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial to commemorate the victims of the First World War, Völklingen 2008, p. 6.
  36. ↑ Quoted from: Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives, Völklinger Treasures, The Monument to All Victims by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen, special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial to commemorate the victims of the First World War, Völklingen 2008, p. 6f.
  37. ↑ Quoted from: Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives, Völklinger Treasures, The Monument to All Victims by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen, special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial commemorating the victims of the First World War, Völklingen 2008, p. 7.
  38. ↑ In a letter to Dr. W. Utermann of November 18, 1954, quoted from Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 30.
  39. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 28.
  40. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 73.
  41. ↑ a b Liberation Monument (Schillerplatz) on regionalgeschichte.net , accessed on November 21, 2014
  42. ↑ Quoted from a copy of the letter from the President of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts of February 12, 1935, file number IV 407/1501, signed E. Hönig, facsimile on the Frankfurt website 1933–45
  43. ↑ Petra Bonavita, “Non-Aryans are asked to leave the lecture hall,” p. 53.
  44. ↑ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 74. (departure "end of 1934")
  45. ↑ Hermann Groß: A Refugium in the Taunus - The Quakers' rest home in Falkenstein 1933-1939
  46. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 38.
  47. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 40f.
  48. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 41f.
  49. ↑ https://www.dortmund.de/de/leben_in_dortmund/nachrichtenportal/alle_nachrichten/nachricht.jsp?nid=375708 Football crazy and world-famous artist
  50. ↑ http://bvb-fanabteilung.de/neuheiten/tottenham-skulptur-im-orchesterzentrum-nrw/
  51. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 74 f.
  52. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 75 f.
  53. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 78.
  54. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 48f.
  55. ↑ On the estate and purchases cf. Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 120.
  56. ^ Museum for Art and Cultural History, March 18 - May 22, 2011, "Benno Elkan, A Jewish Artist from Dortmund"
  57. ↑ (after D. Krohabennik)
  58. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 15.
  59. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss. P. 145ff.
  60. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 86.
  61. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 87.
  62. ^ As early as 1913 by Arnold Fortlage; Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 93f. shows various sources that characterize Elkan as an eclectic.
  63. ↑ Quoted from Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 94.
  64. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 96.
  65. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 44.
  66. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 83.
  67. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 84.
  68. ↑ Description and illustration in: Uwe Fleckner, Carl Einstein und seine Jahrhundert, pp. 59f. and with: Dietrich Schubert, Carl Einstein - portrayed by Benno Elkan . In: Pantheon , Bruckmann, Munich, Volume XLIII (43), 1985, pp. 144-154. With six illustrations of the Einstein bust.
  69. ^ Collection of the City Museum of the State Capital Düsseldorf: Tatjana Barbakoff (1899–1944) , accessed on December 1, 2012
  70. ↑ According to Gerabek's encyclopedia of the history of medicine, the bust is lost.
  71. ↑ Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 90.
  72. ↑ Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 92.
  73. ↑ Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 94.
  74. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 14 f.
  75. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 14.
  76. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 98.
  77. ↑ Max Bernhart, medals and plaques, Braunschweig 1966, p. 130, quoted from: Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 98.
  78. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 62. (reference to the painter's tomb in Karlsruhe von Elkan)
  79. ↑ Sabine Brenner (ed.), "At home all over the world", conference proceedings Alfons Paquet, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-933749-98-0 , p. 18.
  80. ^ A b Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 15.
  81. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 16.
  82. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 30 and p. 35.
  83. ↑ See Menzel-Severing, Diss., Pp. 73ff.
  84. ↑ HK Zimmermann, The Memorial of the Victims in Frankfurt am Main, in: Deutsche Kunst und Decoration Vol. 47 (1921), p. 230ff., Quoted from: Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 76.
  85. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 76.
  86. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 11.
  87. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 31.
  88. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 30. (reference to a replica on a grave in Karlsruhe)
  89. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 34.
  90. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss. P. 147 ff.
  91. ↑ Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 41.
  92. ↑ For Dortmund cf. Menzel-Severing 1980, p. 180; Illustration of the tomb in Karlsruhe in: Deutsche Kunst und Decoration , 30th half-volume (April to September 1912), p. 24. (quoted from: Anett Beckmann: Mentality-historical investigation of the tomb sculpture of the Karlsruhe main cemetery , p. 172.)
  93. ↑ Memorial to the victims of the First World War ; Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 64.
  94. ↑ Large illustration
  95. ↑ Fig. In Menzel-Severing, Diss., Fig. 67.
  96. ↑ Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives (Ed.): Völklinger Treasures. (Special edition on Benno Elkan's memorial in memory of the victims of the First World War) Völklingen 2008.
  97. ↑ Anett Beckmann: Mentality-historical investigation of the tomb sculpture in the Karlsruhe main cemetery , p. 51 and p. 172.
  98. ↑ Illustration on the Internet
  99. ↑ Illustration on the Internet
  100. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan , p. 18.
  101. ↑ Benno Elkan in a letter to Dr. Utermann in Dortmund on November 12, 1954, quoted from Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 136.
  102. ↑ Robert Tausky: Job. A man in the state of Utz and his ways through the world. P. 114
  103. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 239.
  104. ↑ Internet site for the Bruchsal synagogue
  105. ↑ Page on the menorah , description
  106. ↑ Libretto at Schott
  107. ↑ Oliver Volmerich: FC Bayern founder now has a street in Dortmund. In: Westfälische Rundschau of April 8, 2016 (last accessed on April 18, 2018)
  108. ^ Benno Elkan - The most modern work of art in Germany. Accessed June 28, 2019 (German).
  109. ↑ Dortmund unveils a virtual monument by Benno Elkan. August 31, 2018, accessed June 28, 2019 (German).
  110. ↑ Gaby Kolle: Never built war memorial by Benno Elkan becomes the most modern memorial in Germany. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .

literature

Representations

  • Naftali Arbel, Michael Ben Hanan: High Lights of Jewish History as Told By the Knesset Menorah. Israel Biblos Publishing House, 1972.
  • Achim Becker (Red.), Völklingen City Archives (Ed.): The “All Victims” monument by the sculptor Benno Elkan in Völklingen. (= Völklinger Treasures , special edition) Völklingen 2008.
  • Anett Beckmann: Analysis of the history of mentality of the tomb sculpture of the Karlsruhe main cemetery. Dissertation, University of Karlsruhe (TH), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2005, ISBN 3-86644-032-4 . (Creative Commons license by-nc-nd / 2.0 / de)
  • Ernst Blass: Benno Elkan. In: Die Kunst, monthly for free and applied arts , 31st volume: Free art of "Art for All" , 30th year 1915.
  • Petra Bonavita: "Non-Aryans are asked to leave the lecture hall". (PDF; 568 kB), Georg-Wilhelm Müller and the National Socialist German Student Union conquer Frankfurt University. Research Frankfurt 2/2004, on the expulsion of Wolf Elkans from the Frankfurt University.
  • Camilla Bork: Under the sign of expressionism. Compositions by Paul Hindemith in the context of Frankfurt's cultural life around 1920. Schott Musik International, 2006, ISBN 3-7957-0117-1 .
  • Micha Brumlik , Martin Stoehr, Gerard Minnaard: The Menorah. A walk through the history of Israel. (Media folder for schools and communities) Wittingen 1999, ISBN 3-932810-06-6 .
  • Wolf Elkan: And I was convinced that there was only one country I wanted to live in: Germany. in: Aylke Bartmann, Ursula Blömer, Detlef Garz (eds.): “We were the state youth, but the state was weak.” Jewish childhood and youth in Germany and Austria between the end of the war and National Socialist rule. (= Oldenburg contributions to Jewish studies , Volume 14.) Oldenburg 2003, pp. 143–149.
  • Wolf Elkan: memories. Harvard University, Houghton Library, 1940. My Life in Germany before and after January 30. 1933. (bMS Ger 91), Cambridge (Massachusetts).
  • Uwe Fleckner: Carl Einstein and his century. Fragments of an intellectual biography. 2006, ISBN 3-05-003863-2 .
  • Werner Gross, Gert Preiser (ed.): The plaque of the medical faculty of the University of Frankfurt am Main. (= Frankfurt contributions to the history, theory and ethics of medicine , Volume 12.) Olms 1991, ISBN 3-487-09344-8 .
  • Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan. A Jewish artist from Dortmund. Essen 1997, ISBN 3-88474-650-2 .
  • Hannelore Künzl: The Menorah in Jerusalem by Benno Elkan, structure and reliefs. (Essay) Text on www.menora.de
  • Daniel Krohabennik : The Jewish Statue of Liberty. To the picture program of the Great Menorah by Benno Elkan. In: Michael Graetz (Ed.): A life for Jewish art. Commemorative ribbon for Hannelore Künzl. (= Writings of the University for Jewish Studies Heidelberg ) Carl Winter Verlag, Heidelberg 2003, pp. 215–233.
  • Fried Lübbecke: Benno Elkan, Alsbach i. H. In: German Art and Decoration , 30th half volume (April to September 1912), pp. 21–28.
  • Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation, Verlag des Historisches Verein Dortmund, Dortmund 1980.
  • Hans Menzel-Severing: Benno Elkan. A sculptor between tradition and modernity. In: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art , Volume 69 (2003), pp. 79–97.
  • Iris Nölle-Hornkamp, ​​Hartmut Steinecke: Stations in life in Westphalia, texts and testimonies by Jewish writers from Westphalia. (= Publications of the Literature Commission for Westphalia , Volume 27.) Aisthesis Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-89528-649-4 .
  • Kenneth Romeny Towndrow: Project for a Great Menorah I. The Sculptor Benno Elkan. In: The Menorah Journal , Volume XXXVII, No. 2 (spring 1949).

Archival material

  • Files in the Institute for Urban History Frankfurt am Main: Kulturamtsakte 380; Culture Office Act 949; S1 / 75, No. 25.
  • Matriculation books of the Academy of Fine Arts Munich , Vol. 3, Munich 1884–1920, entry Benno Elkan : matriculation number: 1847, entry: May 13, 1898, parents' status: father: businessman, denomination: Israelite, age: 20, subject with Registration: Nature class Herterich.
  • Benno Elkan: Memories. (Fragment), o. O., o. J., 13 pages, manuscript (Leo Baeck Institute New York Library and Archive, limited preview via google books )
  • Correspondence with Franz Kobler (1882–1965), AR 7184 / MF 760, Leo Baeck Institute New York Library and Archives
  • Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv Dortmund, inventory K 1 ([Chamber of Industry and] Commerce in Dortmund, art exhibitions), therein correspondence with the sculptor Benno Elkan 1950–1970 (1)
  • Henry Moore Institute Leeds, 2001.94 / H / 6, Source material on contemporary sculpture, 1950s-1970s, Includes postcards, and images from publications, magazines and newspapers: postcards include images of sculpture by Benno Elkan.
  • Princeton University, Princeton Manuscripts (Princeton University Library, Rare Books and Manuscript divisions), Benno Elkan Collection of Goethe.
  • Akademie der Künste, 10117 Berlin-Mitte, Pariser Platz 4, Fine Arts Archive: Benno Elkan Archive, Archive and Collection, 1.4 running meters. Photos of works and essays on Elkan’s work, including the Great Menorah for Jerusalem (1950s); Typescripts, including travel impressions and art contemplations, from the libretto to Ernst Toch's opera “The Princess on the Pea” based on Hans Christian Andersen and from the autobiography; Family correspondence.

Web links

Commons : Benno Elkan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on October 8, 2009 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Elkan, Benno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Dortmund
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1960
Place of death London