The strong left
The strong left is a sculpture by the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka, who died in 2009, in Wuppertal - Unterbarmen . Until it was erected, it caused a local scandal because of the delayed completion and the exploded costs . Until the Engels Memorial was erected in 2014, the Hrdlicka sculpture was also sometimes referred to as the Friedrich Engels Memorial .
Location and description
The monument is located in the west of the Barmen district of the Bergisch city of Wuppertal ( North Rhine-Westphalia ). It's on the square in front of the Engels House . Framed on the western side by this and the Museum for Early Industrialization , which together form the historical center , as well as the Wuppertal Opera House in the east and Friedrich-Engels-Allee in the north, the square is part of the Engelsgarten .
The eight-ton sculpture was made from an approximately 3.50 meter (according to another source 3.20 m) high block of Carrara marble , which stands on a one meter high granite base . The sculpture shows several intertwined bodies, some of which are not naturalistic , but only partially depicted and cannot be recognized as independent figures or people. They are chained to one another, with the individual limbs also wearing body cuffs. A left arm sticks out trying to break everyone's chains. In front of the Friedrich Engels memorial house, it represents a symbol for the freedom of humanity or the proletariat and against their oppression. The fact that this is a left arm is a symbol of the strength and power of the workers' movement, which its chains and shackles.
history
In 1975 the city of Wuppertal decided to purchase a sculpture as part of the NRW program "Beautification of the Urban Landscape". The location for this should be determined in more detail, the budget was 130,000 DM. In the following year, the Engelsgarten was chosen as the most suitable location. Thematically, it should take into account the genius loci - i.e. refer to Engels. The state wanted to contribute 60 percent of the financing. Following a tender, members of the committee selected Alfred Hrdlicka as the sculptor for the commissioned work; The finished work was promised by him for the end of 1976 and for the amount intended for it. The sum should include material, artist's fee, transport, insurance costs, installation and agency fee for a Düsseldorf gallery. Hrdlicka's designs envisaged a marble book, from the middle of which people depicted in relief were to emerge. The artist called his work "Metamorphosis of the written into reality".
Delivery difficulties for the procurement of a suitable marble block have already led to a cost increase of 10,000 DM and a delay in the completion of the plant. Hrdlicka procured a second marble block from Carrara and changed the design to an all- round sculpture. The sculpture should now represent a crowd that tries to free itself from the tribulation by using all their strength. Those in charge of the city of Wuppertal only found out about this change from a news magazine. Inquiries from Wuppertal were answered partly with silence and partly with choleric outbursts from the artist. The delivery dates were postponed several times every six months until October 1980 was targeted as the delivery date. In the summer of 1980 it was still difficult to understand who was to finance the base. Both parties took their point of view, and there was a further conflict about the workload of the artist and the transport costs. The city of Wuppertal saw everything clarified in the law and in their favor by the concluded contract. According to a newspaper interview, Hrdlicka demanded an additional fee of 70,000 DM for his performance. In October, his demand increased to 300,000 DM, which angered those responsible in the city and a sometimes heated and controversial discussion (keywords were, among other things, "communist" or "Overpriced") in the city council, the media and in the public.
On February 23, 1981 the city council decided under the majority of the SPD that Hrdlicka should be paid 300,000 DM, payable in three installments. The city bore the costs for the base, transport and installation. A new contract was signed on April 6, 1981.
On July 2, 1981, the sculpture was presented to the public in the presence of Alfred Hrdlicka, Johannes Rau , the then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , Gottfried Gurland , then Lord Mayor of the city of Wuppertal, and Michael Knieriem (then Head of the Historical Center). The representatives of the CDU in the city council stayed away from the event and stated their negative stance in a leaflet .
- Views of the sculpture "The Strong Left"
View 1
View 2
View 3
View 4
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ruth Meyer-Kahrweg: Monuments, fountains and sculptures in Wuppertal
- ↑ a b La clé des Langues ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article by Julia Klarmann with further secondary literature
- ↑ Marble dumplings for the angel city Der Spiegel from October 17, 1977
- ↑ Strong Left Der Spiegel, November 10, 1980
- ↑ Problems on the base of Der Spiegel from May 10, 1982
- ↑ Westdeutsche Zeitung of December 8, 2009
literature
- Klaus Goebel : Historical scenes in Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid 1992, ISBN 3-87093-043-8
- Enno Hungerland: The strong left of Alfred Hrdlicka June 1981, documentation
- Ruth Meyer-Kahrweg : Monuments, fountains and sculptures in Wuppertal 1991, ISBN 3-87093-057-8
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 '59.7 " N , 7 ° 11' 27.9" E