Fritz Szalinski
Fritz Szalinski (born December 8, 1905 in Osnabrück - Haste , † May 20, 1978 in Osnabrück) was a German sculptor . A large number of his works can be found in public spaces, especially in his hometown Osnabrück. Szalinski worked in wood, stone, metal and ceramics and also drew.
Life
origin
Fritz Szalinski was born as the son of Fritz (Friedrich) Szalinski (1878-1945), who moved from Lesgewangminnen near Tilsit ( East Prussia ) to Osnabrück in 1900 , and his wife Amalie Szalinski, born in Steinbacher (1881-1911). His mother also came from East Prussia. She died when the son was five years old. The father worked as a tool hardener, continued his education and in 1919 became the full-time secretary of the German Metalworkers' Association , whose successor was IG Metall in 1945 . After the death of his wife, the father entered into a second marriage with Karoline Szalinski, born in Glindmeyer (1890–1970). Fritz Szalinski's sister Henriette, called Henny, was born in 1916. The father suffered political persecution as a trade unionist, was arrested in August 1944 and died on January 15, 1945 in the Neuengamme concentration camp . Stolpersteine of the artist Gunter Demnig on the Kollegienwall, the former location of the Osnabrück trade union building, have been remembering him and other persecuted Osnabrück trade unionists since June 2008 .
education
Fritz Szalinski received his education at the Evangelical Primary School in Osnabrück. In the handicraft class he discovered his talent for wood carving. After graduating from school, despite his father's objections, he trained as a wood sculptor from 1920 to 1924 with the Osnabrück sculptor Bruno Henning senior, who had already supported him during his school days. Szalinski passed his journeyman's examination with distinction and received a “state award for best candidate”. After a year as a sculptor's journeyman, he studied from April 1925 to July 1928 with Cirillo Dell'Antonio at the Bad Warmbrunn wood carving school in Lower Silesia . This was followed by four semesters with Stanislaus Cauer (1867–1943) at the Königsberg Art Academy by 1928 , and he also studied anatomy and art history at the University of Königsberg . At the art academy he received two first prizes in competitions for sculptures that had been advertised by the academy. In Königsberg he met his future wife Charlotte Eckert, called Lotte (1906–1988), who attended the arts and crafts school there. She mainly worked as a painter and batik artist.
Return to Osnabrück in 1928
In 1928 Szalinski returned to Osnabrück and opened a studio on Dielinger Straße in the center of the old town. The following year he had his first major exhibition. In 1929 he and the painter Maria Rasch founded the “Association of Visual Artists” in Osnabrück, which he headed until 1933. In 1945 he re-established it and took over the chairmanship again for several years.
In 1930 Szalinski and Charlotte Eckert married. In 1931 he was involved in the Exposition coloniale international with the construction of an Indonesian temple for the Netherlands.
In his early years as a freelance artist, he made a living as a painter of children's portraits. He also taught at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium until 1933 . The son Peter was born in 1934.
At the building works of the Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden
During the Second World War , Szalinski was involved as a sculptor in its reconstruction from 1941 to 1944 after the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden was destroyed in a bomb attack. In the building works of the State Opera he created figurative and ornamental works for the opera.
1944 until the end of the war
His studio in Osnabrück was destroyed in a bomb attack on September 13, 1944; the works inside were destroyed. The family was unharmed; she spent the last months of the war in a rented old farmhouse in Evinghausen , a farm in the Wiehengebirge near Osnabrück, which she had previously used as a weekend house. Fritz Szalinski was called up for military service in 1944, “but only experienced retreats until the terrible end. It was the most pathetic time of my whole life ”.
1952 to 1978
In 1952 Szalinski passed the examination as a stone and wood sculptor at the Osnabrück Chamber of Crafts; he passed it with distinction. In 1953 Szalinski moved into a studio on Bocksmauer Street in Osnabrück. The family moved into the building that was expanded into a residential building in 1956.
Until 1972 he worked as a freelance artist. He has participated in a variety of solo and group exhibitions. Ten of his works were in the possession of a museum in Osnabrück; however, four of them disappeared. He also restored and reconstructed works by other artists such as the four sculptures on the edge of the terrace of the Osnabrück Castle or in 1966 the coat of arms of the last Protestant Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück, Friedrich von York, at the Episcopal Chancellery .
Fritz Szalinski died in 1978. His grave, for which he created the tomb, is in the Heger cemetery in Osnabrück.
Szalinski's reconstruction works are the baroque figures at Osnabrück Castle
Szalinski restored the royal coat of arms to the Episcopal Chancellery in 1966
Exhibitions (selection)
- 1929 Joint exhibition with the painter Bernhard Feldkamp
- 1933–1935: Solo exhibitions, group exhibitions with Lotte Szalinski and other artists
- 1935: Osnabrück Art Show. Responsible artists exhibit, among others with Eva Denecke, Walter Mellmann , Fritz Szalinski, Gerhard Denecke, Theodor Doebner , NS-Kulturgemeinde KdF, Osnabrück
- 1974 Solo exhibition in the district museum Bersenbrück
- 1979/1980 memorial exhibition in the evening gallery Künstlerhaus in Osnabrück
- 2005/2006 commemorative exhibition in the Sparkasse Osnabrück
literature
- Walter Borchers : Fritz Szalinski . Wenner, Osnabrück 1970, ISBN 3-87898-006-X .
- Boris Szalinski: Fritz Szalinski - December 8, 1905 - May 20, 1978; on the 100th birthday of Fritz Szalinski . Steinbacher, Osnabrück 2006, ISBN 3-9810004-8-X .
Web links
- Literature by and about Fritz Szalinski in the catalog of the German National Library
- fritzszalinski.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stolpersteine in Osnabrück for persecuted Osnabrück social democrats and trade unionists on stolpersteine.mattern-online.info ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Fritz Szalinski's notes from 1974
- ↑ Episcopal Chancellery and the restoration work on the royal coat of arms by Fritz Szalinski on Osnabrück.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Szalinski, Fritz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Osnabrück - Haste (Osnabrück) |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 20, 1978 |
| Place of death | Osnabrück |