Franz Martin (sculptor)

Franz Xaver Martin (born January 5, 1904 in Würzburg ; † March 2, 1959 there ) was a German sculptor and the older brother of the painter Ludwig Martin.

Life

Franz Martin grew up in a family that was open to art and artists. His father Theodor Martin was a master bookbinder , who liked to pass on knowledge and experience in the specialist classes of his craft. He was not reluctant to see his son's thirst for artistic activity and encouraged him to perfect and use his skills. After finishing school in 1919, Franz found an apprenticeship with the then most famous master sculptor Ludwig Sonnleitner in Würzburg, where the Würzburg sculptor and painter Emy Roeder (1890–1971) was also an apprentice. Franz Martin learned to work in stone and wood at Sonnleitner. His apprenticeship ended in 1923, but he stayed for a few more years. At the same time he attended the drawing and modeling classes of the Central Polytechnic Association in Würzburg. His talent helped Franz Martin to receive a scholarship at the Nuremberg Art School . From 1927 to 1930 he was a student of Professor Wilhelm Nida-Rümelin there and found himself and his style. From 1930 to 1932 he attended the Berlin Art Academy and learned from Professor Gries essentials for his later artistic work.

In 1932 Franz Martin married in Würzburg, first found accommodation in the studio of the sculptor Amann, and later had a small studio on Ziegelaustraße. In 1939 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and was interned in the prisoner of war camp in Metz from 1945 to 1947 . From 1947 to 1949 the family was evacuated to Buchbrunn near Kitzingen. In 1949 she was able to return to Würzburg-Heidingsfeld. Franz Martin had a studio here on Klosterstrasse. In 1955 he moved to Domerpfarrgasse in Würzburg and he got a studio in Heinestrasse behind the Haug Abbey church.

Franz Martin mainly worked in Zeil sandstone , but also in oak . Much of the work was cast in bronze .

Works (selection)

• Sandstone Madonna in the Catholic Church of St. Josef in Königsberg, Bavaria
• 1936: Pieta for the Holy Cross Church in Würzburg - Zellerau in oak
• 1949: St. Cäcilia for the Church of St. Laurentius in Würzburg- Heidingsfeld (relief)
• 1950: he created an "altar wall" for the church in Niederwerrn near Schweinfurt , which was removed during a renovation in 1981 and replaced with a cross.
• 1951: seven so-called "keystones" with busts of the chief building director Balthasar Neumann (1687–1753) and artists of his time who were also involved in the design of the Würzburg residence, such as u. a. Joh. Georg Oegg (court locksmith), Jakob von Auvera (court sculptor), Giov. Bapt. Tiepolo (painter from Venice)
• 1954: Holy Family on the Flight to Egypt, a sandstone relief for the front of a house on Josefsplatz in Würzburg
• 1955: St. Judas Thaddäus in oak wood for the anniversary of the Church of St. Josef in Würzburg, Grombühl district
• 1955: Madonna and Child at the perimeter wall of the Ursuline School
• Madonna and child for the youth center Volkersberg in the Rhön
• For the outer wall of the Chapel of the Fallen in the Würzburg municipal cemetery, Franz Martin created a large sandstone relief entitled The Escape , 4–5 meters long and about 2 meters high.
• He carved Christ and the unbelieving Thomas in hard oak for the small Protestant church from the 17th century in Uchenhofen in the Haßfurt district .
• He made a plastic girl with a pigeon for the outdoor area of ​​the lung surgery clinic of the Luitpoldklinikum Würzburg. The somewhat larger than life limestone figure won the first prize in a competition organized by the university building authority. After the renovation of the university hospital, it is now in the garden behind the entrance to the pain clinic.
• For the outdoor area of ​​the Mozart High School, he created the plastic girl with a drinking bowl made of Zeil sandstone .
• For the Franconian housing cooperative St.-Bruno-Werk, he made numerous reliefs, which are placed above the entrance doors of the residential buildings in Seilerstraße and Seegartenweg in Würzburg-Heidingsfeld.
• He made a larger than life figure of a girl with a goose for a new housing estate in Cologne .

Franz Martin created his last sculpture in 1958 a few months before his death. It was the sandstone relief of Saint Sebastian from 1958 above the main portal of the church in Breitenbrunn near Stadtprozelten. He deliberately chose not the usual depiction of St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, but rather his “discovery by passing women”.

Exhibitions

• Exhibitions in the "Spitäle" Würzburg from the Vereinigung Kunstschaffender Unterfrankens e. V. (VKU) in 1969, 1973 and 1983.
• Sub-exhibition under the title Kunst am Bau of the 1950s in Würzburg by Dr. Suse jewelry as part of the exhibition Würzburg and the art of the 50s in the Kulturspeicher Würzburg from November 13, 2010 - February 13, 2011

literature

• Brochure Die Mozartschule by Suse Schmuck in the booklet series for Würzburg of the 2nd revised and expanded edition, June 2006, page 46 and page 53. Editor: Heiner Reitberger Stiftung, ISBN 3-926916-22-2
• Reprint Kunst am Bau 1950s by Dr. Suse jewelry from the exhibition catalog Würzburg and the art of the 1959s from 2010, sources: Stadtarchiv, Main-Post-Archiv, archive of the former university building authority.
• Bruno Rottenbach: Franz Martin. A Würzburg sculptor 1904–1959 , fan print by Echter-Verlag, Würzburg 1990.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Text based on the “Franz Martin” brochure by Bruno Rottenbach, see literature
2. ↑ Church of Saint Joseph on www.koenigsberg.de
3. ↑ Trachtenkapelle Breitenbrunn
4. ↑ Kulturspeicher Würzburg