Emil Paul Borner

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Samuel Hahnemann memorial in Meissen
Börner family grave in Meissen

Emil Paul Börner (born February 12, 1888 in Meißen ; † November 7, 1970 there ) was a German painter , sculptor and medalist . Hardly any other artist of his time, who also worked for the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, came even close to achieving this almost unstoppable productivity and creativity in the so-called "Pfeiffer period" (1918–1933).

biography

Emil Paul Börner was born on February 12, 1888 in the house of his father Friedrich Emil Börner, a carpenter and piano maker, in the Triebischtal district, Hirschbergstrasse 5. His talent for drawing was discovered during his school days. From 1902 to 1905 he learned the profession of porcelain painter in a private Meissen manufactory for decorated porcelains . On the side, Börner took additional private lessons in a drawing school operated by a figure painter from the Royal Manufactory. Here he mainly learned to artistically implement motifs from nature.

He attended from 1905 to 1909 as a student of Richard Müller and Oskar Zwintscher the School of Applied Arts Dresden and the Dresden Art Academy . Later he also became a student of Sascha Schneider , who was then living in Italy. In order to finance his stay and training costs, Börner gave lessons at a private drawing school in Dresden. From 1909 to 1910 he traveled to Italy and met the artist Sascha Schneider in Florence. In the studio there, Börner dealt with the third dimension and space. He also gained experience in modeling and was able to gain a love of plastic. Back in Meißen, Saxony, he successfully applied to the Royal Porcelain Manufactory as a painter.

From December 1, 1910, he worked as a painter at the Meissen porcelain factory . There he also became a modeller in 1912. In the same year Börner married the daughter of the owner of the Meissner Schamotte-Ofen-Fabrik , Katharina Körner. With the beginning of the First World War, Börner was drafted into the army. Two years of military service at the front influenced Börner's artistic feeling, and his work was now increasingly characterized by an expressive exaggeration. In 1921 the son Christoph Witlof Börner was born. During this interwar period, Börner worked as a painter, medalist, sculptor and designer. In 1923 he got a master's studio for five years and in 1924 he was appointed professor by the Ministry of Finance in Saxony. The German Ceramic Society honored Börner in 1930 with the Böttger commemorative coin for his previous artistic work. From 1930 to 1937 Börner was director of the artistic departments of the Meissen porcelain factory. In 1937, Börner left the company and was appointed professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Dresden and in 1942 at the Dresden Art College . From 1945 until his death he worked as a freelance artist in Meissen.

Create

Börner was one of the versatile and productive artists of the Meissen porcelain factory in the 1920s. He began with imaginative decorative paintings and plastic models (“Parrot Vase”, “Santa Claus”, “Odalisque and Harlequin”), designed the “Cologne” dinner service (1915), created vases, numerous grotesque musicians (1925) and putti (1927), the expressive chandelier , the first tunable and playable porcelain carillon (1929) in the Meißner Frauenkirche and the expressive design of the memorial in the Nikolaikirche in Meißen (1929). These include groups of figures of weeping women and children who stand around panels with the names of the dead of the First World War and, with a height of around 2.5 m and a weight of around 300 kg, are the largest porcelain figures ever made. The three-part altar painting and both apostle candlesticks are also a work of the artist. The Meissen porcelain manufactory also owes Börner most of the coins ( porcelain money ), medals and plaques (since 1919) that identify him as an outstanding medalist. The emergency banknotes designed according to his designs for various clients are impressive with their dramatic expressiveness. In 1929, the Johannes and Lukas bell with their relief-like figure decorations (cast bronze) were also created for the Meissen Cathedral . The St. John's bell weighs 7,820 kg, with a diameter of 220 centimeters. It is considered to be one of the bells with the most figures in the world.

The Meißen crematorium (1928–1931) decorated by Börner refers to its artistic universality in the use of various materials - Teichert stoneware (vestibule 1930, urn wall vases 1938), concrete (Pietàskupltur 1931), hard-fired ceramics made of brick clay ( Phoenix 1931), lead glass windows ( 1931), porcelain carillon (1932), glass mosaics (1936) are concentrated here in a very small space.

At the beginning of the 1950s there was renewed contact with the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. But Börner also maintained contact with the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin , where he received orders for the design of several small-format figures. During this time, Börner also supplied the drafts of the two monuments for Ernst Thälmann and August Bebel in Neusörnewitz near Coswig, which were later implemented. In 1957, Börner was commissioned by the city of Meißen with the production of a memorial base made of Meißner granite for a bronze bust of Samuel Hahnemann , which was placed in the park behind the Nikolaikirche. As the 250th anniversary of the Meissen Manufactory approached in 1960, Börner was one of the artists who supplied designs for an anniversary collection. Börner submitted designs for a crockery complex, some vases, medals and plaques and again received great recognition. The Aelteste Volkstedter Porzellanmanufaktur and Wallendorf Porcelain Manufactory bought several figure models from the artist in order to include them in their collection.

Emil Paul Börner's grave is in the old Johannesfriedhof in Meißen. As the design of the tombstone and the individual tombstones suggest, the design was prepared by Börner himself during his lifetime in 1956.

literature

  • Meissen Porcelain Manufactory: 250 years of the Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory. 1960.
  • Hermann Jedding: Meissen porcelain of the 19th and 20th centuries 1800–1933. Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-87405-133-1 .
  • Otto Walcha: Meissen porcelain. From the beginning to the present. 8th edition. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1986, ISBN 3-364-00012-3 .
  • Caren Marusch-Krohn: Meissen Porcelain 1918-1933 Die Pfeifferzeit , Edition Leipzig, 1993, ISBN 3-361-00402-0 .
  • Jürgen Schärer: In a nutshell , Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Meißen 2000, ISBN 3-910063-28-4 .
  • Günter Donath: The restoration of the cathedral in Meissen 1990–2002. Contribution by Klaus Ferner: Cathedral bells and tower clocks. Fraunhofer IRB Verlag, 2003.
  • Günter Naumann: City Lexicon Meißen. Sax-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86729-013-5 .
  • Steffen Förster: War memorial site and glockenspiel - porcelain art for the public space for the millennium of Meissen in 1929, from manufacturers as citizens of the city of Meissen. City Museum, Meißen, 2011.
  • Reiner Graff: Emil Paul Börner (1888–1970) - an artist of white gold, a master of design, medalist and painter - a person who let the porcelain ring out. Self-published, 2017.
  • Reiner Graff: Emil Paul Börner a versatile Meissen artist with a sounding mission. Writing and lecture for the commemoration of the artist's 130th birthday on March 18, 2018 in the parentation hall of the Meißen crematorium. Self-published, 2018.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sächsische Zeitung of February 24, 2018, The Treasury of the Crematorium .
  2. ^ Address books of the city of Meissen from 1893 and 1900
  3. ↑ Caren Marusch-Krohn: Meissen porcelain 1918–1933 - The Pfeiffer period. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1993, ISBN 3-361-00402-0 .
  4. ^ Karl-Heinz Weigelt, Sieglinde Weigelt, Gunter Weigelt: Medals made from Meissen porcelain. 1980-1983. Transpress Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00091-8 , p. 472. (Section short biographies of the artists involved in the design of the medals )
  5. ↑ Festschrift 25 years of cremation association , without publisher, Meißen 1936.
  6. ↑ Always at the fair for 250 years. In: Berliner Zeitung of March 4, 1960.
  7. ↑ Reiner Graff: Emil Paul Börner (188–1970) - an artist of the white gold, a master of design, medalist and painter - a person who let the porcelain ring out. Self-published, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Borner, Emil Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borner, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, sculptor and medalist
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Meissen
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1970
Place of death Meissen