Franziska Lenz-Gerharz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franziska Lenz-Gerharz: Three pilgrims in front of the Leonhardskirche in Frankfurt am Main, bronze, 1990

Franziska Lenz-Gerharz (born February 16, 1922 in Ransbach ; † July 7, 2010 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a sculptor and freelance artist from Frankfurt. She was married to the CDU politician and lawyer Helmut Lenz .

education and profession

Artwork creation story in Burgholzhausen

Franziska Lenz-Gerharz comes from an old family of potters from the Westerwald who have been making salt-glazed stoneware since 1651 . Following the family tradition, she learned the pottery trade. After taking the master craftsman's examination in 1947 at the engineering school for ceramics in Höhr-Grenzhausen , Lenz-Gerharz taught ceramics there . She then studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe as well as in Paris and Munich from 1948 to 1951 .

She worked as a freelance artist and sculptor in Frankfurt.

Works

Franziska Lenz-Gerharz: Justitia , 1986, 21 × 19 × 15 cm, bronze.

Lenz-Gerharz's works encompass a broad artistic spectrum, both in terms of the materials used and the motifs shown. They range from motifs for utility ceramics for the parents' pottery Gerharz and Manns to stone slabs and ceramic sculptures to sculptures made of bronze. Her work can be found in churches, administrative buildings and in public places throughout Germany. Several other works are now in private hands.

One focus of her work shows a Christian reference. In many churches you can find sculptures by Lenz-Gerharz, among them, among many others, only two sculptures with the name Schutzmantel-Madonna ( Altenberger Dom 1953, Berlin-Charlottenburg, St. Canisius 1977, destroyed in the church fire in 1995) are mentioned. also St. Michael (Königstein- Mammolshain , Catholic Church, 1973) and Pieta ( Frankfurt, St. Anna , 1979). This religious focus is also evident from the numerous smaller sculptures not primarily designed for installation in church buildings, such as Apocalypse (1966), Resurrection (1980) and Pilgrimage (1988).

The best-known sculptures by Lenz-Gerharz in the Frankfurt city area are certainly the Struwwelpeter -Brunnen (1985) at the Hauptwache and the sculpture Three Pilgrims (1990) at the Leonhardskirche .

Her works have been presented in numerous exhibitions, including a. in Frankfurt (first time 1960), Cologne (1962), Fulda (1974), Koblenz (1977), Berlin (1977), Goslar (1979), Bad Hersfeld (1987) and Limburg (1992).

Honors

Franziska Lenz-Gerharz was honored with the Frankfurt Friedrich Stoltze Prize in 1996 .

literature

  • Ulrich Gertz: Franziska Lenz-Gerharz - plastic, relief, vessel , Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-7829-0218-1 .
  • Joachim Proescholdt: People , catalog for the exhibition of the same name in 1985 in Frankfurt am Main.
  • Ellen Markgraf: Retrospective Franziska Lenz-Gerharz - Sculptor , Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-7829-0423-0 .
  • Helmut Lenz: Salt-glazed stoneware - Franziska Lenz-Gerharz , Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-7829-1146-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ↑ Gertz: Franziska Lenz-Gerharz, cf. literature
  3. ^ Lenz: Salt-glazed stoneware, cf. literature
  4. ↑ Proescholdt: People , cf. literature
  5. ↑ http://www.kunst-im-oefflichen-raum-frankfurt.de/de/page101.html?kuenstler=13

Web links

Commons : Franziska Lenz-Gerharz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Lenz-Gerharz, Franziska
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerharz, Franziska
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Ransbach
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 2010
Place of death Frankfurt am Main