Glass painting company Ferdinand Müller

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Letterhead depicting the factory building, around 1900
Workforce, 1908

The Art Institute of stained glass Ferdinand Müller was one of the late 19th and early 20th centuries the most important Protestant stained glass workshops not only in central Germany. Preserved buildings of the Kunstanstalt in Gernröder Weg 3 in Quedlinburg are entered in the Quedlinburg monument register.

Company founder

Ferdinand Müller was born in Quedlinburg on September 17, 1848 . After attending the boys' school (around 1854 to 1860) he completed a three-year apprenticeship as a glazier . After completing his apprenticeship, he went on a journey as a skilled craftsman and traveled to Switzerland , Italy and southern Germany. On November 28, 1880, he married Marie Johanna nee Hermann (1847–1922). The Müller couple had five children, three sons and two daughters. After Ferdinand Müller's death in 1916, his sons Walther (1883–1966) and Erwin (1890–1960) took over the company.

The manufactory's sphere of activity

The company Ferd. Müller, who was allowed to use the title purveyor to the court , was one of the largest contemporary German glass painting workshops around 1900 with around 70 employees and an annual order volume of around 70 glazing objects from the predominantly Protestant church building . Their sphere of activity was primarily aimed at the rural communities of the Prussian provinces. The province of Saxony plays a special role in which the Ferd. Müller held a dominant position. Starting from a small craft business in the 1880s, the founder Ferdinand Müller succeeded within two decades in expanding his company into a large industrial enterprise for central and northern Germany.

Company history

converted factory building, Gernröder Weg 3 (2011)
2013
Residential house, Gernröder Weg 3

First, Ferdinand Müller opened an art and building glass workshop with picture framing on Stieg 12 in Quedlinburg in 1876 . In 1879/80 he added a glass painting to this. Due to Müller's business acumen and the constant demand for stained glass for sacred and secular buildings, the company soon achieved greater regional, national and international recognition. A contemporary report on Quedlinburg industry from 1902 deals with the Müller workshop in various ways. The following comments can be found on the economic development: “In the last three years, the Müller company has supplied painted or multi-colored glazed churches for 221 churches. T. very valuable windows. From abroad, especially from Russia and Norway, there are always numerous orders. Last year three windows were also sent to East Africa and two to Samoa. "

The international sales areas expanded continuously. At the turn of the century, the Ferd. Müller carried out numerous commissioned work for Sweden , North America , South Africa , Palestine , India , Jordan and Indonesia in addition to the countries mentioned above .

This required an enlargement of the glass painting establishment. Müller sold his house at Stieg 12 around 1900 and moved to Gernröder Weg 3. A workshop complex with warehouses and an adjoining residential building was built on the new site according to the plans of the Quedlinburg architect and master builder Hans Baranke . Particularly striking is the preserved industrial building built in 1899/1900 by the architect Max Schneck . The facade was executed in the Art Nouveau style with Gothic elements. Both the stairwells and the vestibules were provided with glass designs. The monumentally designed studio window surrounded by a relief frame is impressive and unique in this form.

The plant consisted of an art glass workshop, a glass grinding shop, a glass warehouse, a joinery and a locksmith's shop. The Pestalozzivereins report on the glass warehouse explains: “In huge storage rooms, compartment after compartment is lined up next to and one above the other. Each is numbered and contains colored glass panels about ¾ m long and ½ to 1 m wide. (...) About 1000 different types and colors are represented in the warehouse, and we have to be amazed at the enormous quantities of glass, at the many colors and shades that are available to a capable glass painter today. "

Due to the large glass warehouse, the Quedlinburg building glassworks and the local glass painting company LW Schneemelcher purchased their range of glasses from Müller at a reasonable price. In some cases, the building glass factories also had glass paintings done by him and then only used them for their customers. The Müller plant had its own rail connection to transport the glass . Another special feature was a studio window extending over three floors , which was used to display representative glass paintings as well as to produce them. All sketches, drafts and boxes were arranged alphabetically and cataloged in the company archive. As a collector and scientifically interested specialist, Müller owned an extensive library, which he was constantly expanding with new publications of the relevant specialist literature. The library also included a newspaper archive and an archive on important national and international glass workshops, their artists and the orders they carried out. In order to be able to take national, geographical and cultural particularities into account, he collected everything in this area that was of literary importance to him. He had extensive map material, information on sights, customs and religious features.

From a speech on the 25th anniversary of the Ferd company. Müller shows that in 1904 she had a total of 76 employees. These included Partly academically trained glass painters and draftsmen as well as glass cutters , art glass , carton draftsmen , lead makers , carpenters and locksmiths .

Ferdinand Müller died in 1916. The family owned the stained glass factory. Walther Müller, Ferdinand Müller's son, remained childless and sold the company in 1965 to the Halle Burg Giebichenstein University of Applied Sciences in Halle (Saale) . A branch for glass painting was set up here and students were trained in glass design up to 1990. Charles Crodel created his colored glass windows for churches in Bernterode, Delitzsch, Erfurt, Halberstadt, Merseburg, Sangerhausen and Schmalkalden from 1950 to 1973 in Quedlinburg.

The factory premises have been managed by the Gernröder Weg owners' association , the descendants of Ferdinand Müller, since 2000 .

Works

Other preserved glass windows can be found in the following buildings:

In the Protestation Memorial Church in Speyer, Müller was one of nine companies involved. He created the glass windows: the coat of arms windows of the nobles from Eichsfeld (windows No. 2 and No. 13) and four ornamental windows with portraits in the sacristy rooms (No. 24, I and II, 30, I and II). He also knew how to surpass renowned South German glass painters. "Glass painter Müller from Quedlinburg has the following to say : It could indeed be for such money (meaning the '10 , 000 Marks for a rosette' for which a 'Munich glass painting is planned' ; d. Author. ) deliver something really horrific. But you can also make very beautiful things for significantly cheaper money & I would like to offer to make a colored drawing for free ... I don't think I have to step back (behind) the Munich with my services ... regarding the payment I would in to meet you in every way. “( Master's thesis Beck, p. 66 ) He was well aware of his situation:“ All stained glass in Munich are strictly Catholic & it could probably also be in the interest of the community if you had the satisfaction that the better jewelry of the church too comes from an evangelical institution. ”( Master's thesis Beck, p. 70 ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Monika Beck: The stained glass windows of the memorial church in Speyer. Masterpieces of stained glass and Protestant iconography in the Nazarene style around 1900. (Master's thesis). In: Heidelberg University. March 17, 2004, accessed February 2, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Angelika Klause, Frank Martin: Glass paintings of the 19th century. Berlin Brandenburg. Leipzig 2003, p. 240; Reinhard Kuhl: 19th century glass paintings. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Leipzig 2001, p. 237
  3. ^ Pestalozziverein der Provinz Sachsen (Ed.): The Province of Saxony in words and pictures. Volume 2: The Quedlinburg Industry. How our colorful church windows are made. Leipzig 1902, pp. 202–207, here: p. 207.
  4. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt (ed.): Monument Directory Saxony-Anhalt. Volume 7: Falko Grubitzsch, with the participation of Alois Bursy, Mathias Köhler, Winfried Korf, Sabine Oszmer, Peter Seyfried and Mario Titze: Quedlinburg district. Volume 1: City of Quedlinburg. Fly head, Halle 1998, ISBN 3-910147-67-4 , page 114
  5. ^ Pestalozziverein der Provinz Sachsen (Ed.): The Province of Saxony in words and pictures. Volume 2: The Quedlinburg Industry. How our colorful church windows are made. Leipzig 1902, pp. 202–207, here: p. 204.
  6. ↑ Excerpts from the archive of the Quedlinburg Castle Museum, Müller documents, cardboard: Müller company, Topography AZ.
  7. ^ Ceremonial address of December 31, 1904, given by the authorized signatory Nemitz on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Müller company. The speech is in a copy in the private collection of Lilott Müller, Münster i. Westf.
  8. ↑ http://www.kirche-mv.de/Jarmen.5745.0.html
  9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , last accessed on September 13, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kirchequedlinburg.de

literature

  • Falko Grubitzsch in: Ute Bednarz, Folkhard Cremer et al. (Ed.): Dehio-Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Saxony-Anhalt, Volume 1: Administrative region Magdeburg. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-422-03069-7 , page 762.
  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Saxony-Anhalt (Ed.): List of monuments in Saxony-Anhalt. Volume 7: Falko Grubitzsch, with the participation of Alois Bursy, Mathias Köhler, Winfried Korf, Sabine Oszmer, Peter Seyfried and Mario Titze: Quedlinburg district. Volume 1: City of Quedlinburg. Fly head, Halle 1998, ISBN 3-910147-67-4 , page 114.
  • Frank Laska: Ferdinand Müller's glass painting establishment in Quedlinburg. Supplier of church glazing in Westphalia and Lippe. In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History , Volume 106 (2010), pp. 197–240.
  • Frank Laska: Ferdinand Müller's glass painting establishment in Quedlinburg from its establishment until 1914. (Dissertation, University of Halle an der Saale, 2008.) Quedlinburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-938579-20-6 .
  • Frank Laska: The glass painting establishment Ferdinand Müller (Quedlinburg). In: Das Münster, magazine for Christian art and art history , 62nd year 2009, pp. 123–131.
  • Frank Laska: The glass painting establishment F. Müller. An international success story from Quedlinburg. In: Sachsen-Anhalt, Journal for Nature and Home Friends , 18th year 2008, p. 26 f.
  • Frank Laska: Customers all over the world. F. Müller glass painting establishment (Quedlinburg). In: Kultur-Report, quarterly issue of the Central German Cultural Council , issue 55/56 (2008), p. 34.

Web links

Commons : Glasmalereianstalt Ferdinand Müller  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 46 ′ 50.4 ″  N , 11 ° 8 ′ 39 ″  E