Ernst Curfeß

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Ernst Curfeß (born July 11, 1849 in Aalen ; died May 6, 1896 in Stuttgart ; alternative spelling Ernst Curfess) was a German sculptor and was one of the most important representatives of his art movement in southern Germany at the end of the 19th century.

Life

Ernst Curfeß was born on July 11th, 1849 in his parents' house at Marktplatz 26 in the former Wuerttemberg administrative city of Aalen. As the son of a bookbinder , he had access to higher education and attended secondary school in his hometown. Subsequently, he enjoyed further training at the Königliche Hüttenwerke in Wasseralfingen (today SHW ), where he stood out with his artistic talent in the company's own drawing and painting room. In 1871 he found his first job in the Kuhn iron and brass foundry in Berg near Stuttgart. From here he attended the Stuttgart Art School as an intern, from which the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart emerged . He soon moved to Berlin, where he worked on the Victory Column . Finally, in 1874, he went to Rome to continue his studies.

After he had attracted the attention of the Stuttgart art circles and especially the king in 1877 with an almost life-size bronze figure ( boy, nibbling from an amphora ) , he returned permanently to his homeland. In the following years he rose to some respect within the borders of Swabia, not least thanks to the patronage of the Württemberg court.

Curfeß, who remained unmarried, was considered a cheerful bon vivant in the salons of upper society in Stuttgart . This presumably also contributed to the ambivalent judgment that his contemporaries issued to him.

As Curfeß on the evening of May 4, 1896 during a small trip between today's Stuttgart districts Untertürkheim and cheeks , as they say, from apoplexy was hit, that suffered a stroke, they brought the sick into the Stuttgarter Louis hospital. However, he died there after two days and was buried in the St. Johann cemetery in Aalen, where he was born.

reception

"He is not lacking in natural talent, but in thorough training" can be read in an obituary and that he has "always pursued his art in a cavalier manner". This criticism was perhaps expressed not entirely without ulterior motives and in the spirit of Swabian pietism , because it aims more at the artist's way of life than at the most objective possible classification of his quality as a sculptor. He is also accused of having not liked “the monumental”, and is based on the example of the Dannecker memorial: this “defaces ... due to its tasteless composition [the] magnificent [n] Stuttgart Palace Square more ... than [it] adorns it”.

Elsewhere, however, his talent in the field of genre plastic is also emphasized. This form deals with the immediate reproduction of real life, is rather small-format and corresponds in content to the moral painting in painting. For this area he had "created some delicious pieces adorned with naive charms".

In the choice of his motifs he corresponds to the taste of the time and can be assigned to historicism . In a review of the international painting exhibition in Stuttgart in 1891, the grace of his sculpture “Bride of the Wind” was praised effusively and compared with statues of angels and saints in St. Peter's Basilica.

After his death, Curfeß was quickly forgotten. The reasons for this must remain speculation. The support he received from King Charles was certainly not without problems . In addition to the resentment that can be read from the obituary mentioned, there may be an opportunity for an explanation in the peculiarity of his surname. It can be noted that the name just to the wrong letter inviting. An initial ambiguity with regard to its transmission can be found in the German Digital Library. There you can find the invoice from the bookbinder G. Curfest from Aalen to the Leinroden rent office, which probably refers to the father.

Furthermore, there are different fashions around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, which make a wide variety of spellings conceivable: ss, "ſs" or "ſʒ" - ligature or ß at the end, C or K at the beginning. Many authors wrote as they saw fit and after the spelling reform of 1901 the ligature disappeared from the typeface of popular publications. (See also: Development of the character ß )

In contrast to the large number of his professional colleagues, the sources are more than unsatisfactory. There is almost no evidence of his time in Italy. Many of his works appear to have been lost, are privately owned, or were destroyed in the war.

annotation

  1. ↑ "Cavalier-like" means something like "casual, playfully easy or carefree" according to today's reading.
    To this day, these are not necessarily expressions for the greatest appreciation in Swabian.

Honors

  • 1892 Appointment as royal court sculptor by King Karl.
After Ludwig von Hofer's death (1887), the position was not immediately filled again.
  • As the main source shows, soon after the artist's death, friends had a plaque put up on the house where he was born.
There does not seem to be any evidence of this today.
  • A street in Aalen has been named after Ernst Curfeß since 1978.

Selection of works

Bust of JH Dannecker
Schubart monument around 1892
Detail on the Karl Olga monument: The state patroness Württembergia donates wreaths to the royal couple.
  • “Ganymed and Faun”, marble sculpture, date unknown, current location: Stefansplatz, Wasseralfingen ( external images ): Ganymed as cupbearer of the gods.
  • Female nude, marble sculpture, around 1880 ( external picture ) from the plastic collection of the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
  • Busts of King Wilhelm II and Queen Charlotte , Stuttgart
He created numerous reliefs and busts for the Württemberg royal family. For example, a marble monument to King Charles and a bronze monument to Queen Olga can still be seen in Stuttgart today.
Damaged in an air raid in World War II , today's location: Städtisches Lapidarium Stuttgart , inv. 177
  • Fountain for the palace gardens, Friedrichshafen, 1889 (cast by Hugo Pelargus , current location: Altshausen Palace )
  • Parts of the building sculpture at the Landesgewerbeamt, Stuttgart, from 1890
  • Schubart Memorial, Aalen, 1891
Curfeß made the bronze bust for the 100th anniversary of the poet's death free of charge in his hometown. The audience praised "the extremely realistic depiction of Schubart, which sees the striking representation of his" sensual and ruthless nature "as particularly successful".
  • Figures and reliefs on the Karl Olga monument to King Karl and Queen Olga of Württemberg , marble and bronze, Stuttgart, 1895, together with Heinrich Halmhuber (architect) and Paul Stotz (casting). The monument was one of the most important in the upper grounds of the Botanical Garden and was destroyed in air raids during World War II.
  • Architecture and engineering, allegorical attic statues, Stuttgart State Trade Museum , 1895. Destroyed in World War II.

In addition to the large sculptures mentioned, which are only a selection, many genre sculptures typical of the time come from his hands. Many of them were shown at the Berlin Academy Exhibition of 1876, 1878 and 1884, among others.

colleagues

(a list of other contemporary sculptors from southern Germany)

Theodor Bausch (1849–1925)     Emil Kiemlen (1869–1956)     Valentin Oeckler (1854–1940)
Josef Eberle (1839–1903)     Rudolf Maison (1854–1904)     Wilhelm Rösch (1850-1893)
Wilhelm Hornberger (1819–1882)     Paul Müller (1843–1906)     Georg Rheineck (1848–1916)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c SWR 4 Quiz: What was Aalen's famous son Ernst Curfeß?
  2. ^ A b c Anton Bettelheim (ed.), Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher Nekrolog, Volume 1, Verlag Georg Reimer, 1897, pp. 94/95
  3. ↑ Magazine for Foreign Literature, Volume 60
  4. ↑ Bill of the bookbinder G. Curfest
  5. ↑ Curfeßstraße in Aalen
  6. ↑ Article in the Schwäbische Zeitung
  7. ↑ KING WILHELM II OF BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG . HAMPEL Fine Art Auctions Munich. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Curfeß, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Curfess, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Bask
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1896
Place of death Stuttgart