The Sower (Constantin Meunier)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sculpture The Sower in Günthersburgpark in Frankfurt
Sower in the colonnade courtyard on Museum Island in Berlin
The sower in the botanical garden of Brussels

The Sower is a bronze sculpture created in 1890 by the Belgian painter and sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831–1905) , of which several copies exist. The sculpture is roughly life-size and depicts a farm worker striding out while sowing seeds . The male figure, barefoot and bare-chested, carries a seed bag held in his left hand and shows the typical gesture of manual sowing with his right hand. The motif “working people” is seen as characteristic of Meunier's sculptural work.

Frankfurt am Main

One of the sculptures stands in Günthersburgpark in Frankfurt 's Nordend-Ost district on a stone plinth in front of a group of trees, immediately behind the southwest gate to the park ( location ). This sculpture is a donation of the entrepreneur and then head of the Cassella works , Leo Gans . In 1906, shortly after the death Meunier, the purchase was effected by two Meunier sculptures, The Sower and The dockers , (the latter situated on the balustrade of the Peace Bridge ) by the City of Frankfurt. The sower was set up in Günthersburgpark in 1915. Both sculptures were paid for with funds from the cultural fund donated by Leo Gans totaling 150,000 marks . In 2009 the sculpture, which had cracks and traces of rust, was restored by a specialist company for art casting and protected from the weather by sealing the surface.

Berlin

Another version of the sower is set up in the colonnaded courtyard in front of the Alte Nationalgalerie on Museum Island in Berlin ( Lage ). It is one of the three original sculptures of the colonnade courtyard that can still be seen there today. This sculpture comes from the possession of the steam boiler manufacturer Otto Krebs , who had the figure set up in the garden of his country estate in Holzdorf near Weimar and to whose heirs the sculpture was restituted in 2008 . With the help of endowment funds from the Kulturstiftung der Länder and the Hermann Reemtsma Foundation , the Nationalgalerie was able to repurchase the sculpture in 2010 at an auction by Christie's in London .

Brussels

Between 1894 and 1898, was Botanical Garden in Brussels provided under the supervision of Constantin Meunier 52 bronze sculptures, one of which Meunier with The Sower , which the autumn represents and The Reaper , who for the summer is, two separate works contributed. Today 30 figures are still preserved, including the sower ( location ).

More copies

Further copies are in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen ( Lage ) and in the M Museum in Leuven ( Lage ).

Web links

Commons : The Sower (Constantin Meunier)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Art in Public Space Frankfurt . Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  2. ^ Art in Günthersburgpark - The work monument has disappeared. In: Frankfurter Rundschau Online. May 7, 2009, Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  3. ^ The sculptures of the Kolonnadenhof on the website of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin . Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  4. ↑ Gardens in front of the National Gallery on the website of the Senate Department for Urban Development and Environment Berlin . Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Sower reacquired for the National Gallery . October 19, 2010 at www.berlin.de . Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  6. ↑ A return and a discovery. In: FAZ . October 22, 2010, p. 22.
  7. ↑ De Kruidentuin. (PDF) (Dutch). Retrieved May 27, 2016.