Eduard Zimmermann (sculptor)

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Eduard Zimmermann (1872–1949) sculptor in Munich, 1910
Eduard Zimmermann

Eduard Zimmermann (born August 2, 1872 in Stans , † December 7, 1949 in Zollikon ) was a Swiss sculptor .

life and work

Eduard Zimmermann grew up as the second eldest son of a large farming family on the Schützenmatt farm on Mettenweg in Stans. His father Adolf (1847-1894) and his mother Christine, born Bircher (* 1848), married in 1870 in Einsiedeln. As a teenager, Zimmermann fell ill with polio. During the months of recovery he began to draw from templates. Zimmermann's maternal aunt, Maria Bircher (1862–1932), recognized his artistic talent and, with the consent of his parents, gave him a place at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts in 1882. Zimmermann finished his studies there after two years. As his parents had to sell their farm shortly beforehand and his family members moved to different places, Zimmermann's aunt made it possible for him to continue his artistic career for three years at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. He graduated with the highest awards. In Florence he made friends a. a. with Arnold Böcklin and admired the work of Donatello , a classic of the Renaissance.

In 1897 Zimmermann and Aunt Marie, who had accompanied him to Florence and paid for his stay, returned to Stans in the Kniri house on Schützenmatt , which his father had inherited . The government of Nidwalden wanted a memorial by Zimmermann to commemorate the days of horror in Nidwalden . However, he was only able to make the draft for it, as the memorial was not executed due to disagreements among the politically responsible. In 1898 the obelisk monument in the Allweg district of Ennetmoos was realized by the stone carver Zgraggen from Hergiswil and inaugurated in 1900. Zimmermann could only carry out a festival medal for the raid shooting festival .

In 1898 Zimmermann studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich for two years with Wilhelm von Rümann and was awarded the silver medal at the final examination. Adolf Hildebrand was a great role model for Zimmermann . In Munich he met Ernst Kreidolf , Carl Theodor Meyer-Basel , Johann Burger , Albert Welti , Wilhelm Balmer , Emyl Keyser and the writers Jakob Schaffner and Leopold Weber . Zimmermann's studio was on Theresienstrasse, in the same house as the painters Fritz von Uhde and Hugo von Habermann . Since one sister of Emyl Keyser was Martin von Feuerstein's wife and the other sister was Ernst Zimmermann's wife and both came from Stans, it often happened that the two couples met during the holidays at Eduard Zimmermann's in Stans.

From 1901 Zimmermann worked on five large stone reliefs for the Grand Council Chamber of the new Basel City Hall . Zimmermann made large reliefs for the mausoleum of the Sulzer-Steiner family from Winterthur from 1908 to 1910. In the last few years in Munich he worked almost exclusively on sketches and drafts for the competition for a Swiss national monument in Schwyz . It was intended to commemorate the founding of the Old Confederation and the Battle of Morgarten . Richard Kissling and Zimmermann emerged as the two favorites from the competition. When the First World War broke out in 1914 , work on the memorial came to a standstill and was postponed indefinitely. For Zimmermann that was the worst setback in his artistic career to date. In 1919 he received compensation of CHF 28,000 for the work he had done.

Drinking water fountain in the lobby of the ETH with three graces

Like many other Swiss artists who were in Munich at the time, Zimmermann and his aunt returned to Switzerland and found a suitable home and studio in Zollikon on Zollikerstrasse. During the following years his artist friends met there. Ernst Kreidolf was a much-welcomed and welcome guest. As his friend Jakob Schaffner developed into an ardent supporter of the National Socialists and both got into an argument over it, their friendship dissolved.

In Zurich, the architects of state buildings recognized Zimmermann's skills and awarded him many of their commissions. Zimmermann created nine large sandstone figures for the newly built Zurich office buildings. In 1921 he created two female figures and the three graces as a fountain figure for the vestibule of the ETH . At Steinhaldenplatz he designed the Diana fountain and for the fountain on Rämistrasse two larger-than-life figures in shell limestone. For the portal of the Schweizerische Volksbank he created two sculptures and for the Liebfrauenkirche three altar reliefs from the life of Niklaus von Flüe .

Hermann Hesse (1906)

Zimmermann created grave sculptures in Stans, Hergiswil , Basel , Uznach , Zurich and Winterthur, as well as many busts of personalities such as Albert Welti (Kunsthaus Zurich), Ludwig Lichtheim , Jakob Schaffner (Kunstmuseum Bern) and Hermann Hesse (Kunsthalle Basel), Robert Gnehm and Arnold Engeler (ETH Zurich).

Zimmermann was active in the years 1912–1915 and 1930–1934 together with Cuno Amiet in the Federal Art Commission and in the Zurich Exhibition and Collection Commission and as a jury member of many competitions.

In 1920 he took part in the Biennale di Venezia . In 1925 his works were exhibited in a separate hall at the 16th National Art Exhibition in the Kunsthaus Zürich .

In 1921 Zimmermann was commissioned to create a guard memorial for the Swiss Guard for the courtyard of the Guard District in Rome . It was inaugurated in autumn 1927 and Zimmermann received a gold medal from the Pope.

In 1932 his aunt died and in 1944 Zimmermann suffered a stroke and had to stop his artistic sculpting work. He rented his studio to Gottfried Honegger . In 1949 Eduard Zimmermann fell ill with pneumonia and died on December 7th in his house. Two days later he was buried in the Stans cemetery.

literature

Web links

Commons : Eduard Zimmermann (Sculptor)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Academy of Fine Arts in Munich: Matriculation book from 1898. Accessed on November 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Swiss engineer and architect: The restoration of the Basel town hall. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  3. ^ Draft for the national monument in Schwyz
  4. ^ Agnese Quadri: The Graces in the main building of the ETH Zurich. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Swiss Guard : 1927, Guard Monument. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Vincenz Oertle: 1927, Gardedenkmal. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Stans
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 1949
Place of death Zollikon