Gustav Nonnenmacher

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Gustav Nonnenmacher (born April 21, 1914 in Stuttgart ; † November 2, 2012 in Worms ) was a German sculptor . The work of the artist, who has lived in Worms since 1951, mainly comprises bronze sculptures in sacred spaces, fountain sculptures in public spaces and sculptures made of various materials with which he has taken a socio-political position since the 1970s.

Clay model portrait of Gustav Nonnenmacher

life and work

Gustav Nonnenmacher was born in Stuttgart in 1914 as the second illegitimate child of a white ironing woman and was soon left to care by his mother. At first he lived with different parents, then in the orphanage. Since the scholarship planned for him, which would have enabled him to attend grammar school and subsequent studies, had been lost due to the inflation, he was given an apprenticeship with a wood sculptor in Holzgerlingen in 1929 . During this time he came into contact with a group of young people who were experimenting with building gliders. But as early as October 1936 he was drafted into military service in the Air Force and was not released until the beginning of the war. Nonnenmacher was deployed in all theaters of war except Russia and mainly flew hundreds of missions with the Ju52 with over 4,000 flight hours, mainly in the Mediterranean area. He survived several crash landings and ditching and was then referred to as “no longer usable for front flight” and was transferred to the Austrian Alps as a blind flight instructor.

After the war he never wanted to fly again. He started a family and despite many offers from the Post, Lufthansa and the Bundeswehr worked as a sculptor and freelance artist in Worms am Rhein. In the post-war years he mainly created works in the sacred space, which were characterized by a special formal language and artistically new perspective. His anti-war memorials and many of his works in public space, which are determined by his pacifist attitude and political and socially critical statements, received particular attention . He caused a stir with public actions.

Split cross

For example, when he in the Luther year 1983, at the historical location of the famous Luther words “Here I stand; I can't help it, God help me ”put up a nine meter high blood-soaked“ Split Cross ”. The reactions fluctuated between rejection and the demand for permanent residence.

In an interview he once said: “Even if it does not suit some, I am of the opinion that it is the task of an artist to comment on social conditions in his pictures. I think I succeeded sometimes. "

Imperial portal at the cathedral

Gustav Nonnenmacher recognized early on that his hometown, rich in history and culture, could not or would not raise the necessary funds for the accents that he considered to be artistically necessary. In this way, he repeatedly succeeded in either winning sponsors for the artistic design of public spaces or in providing funding through donation campaigns. This began in 1953 with the " Luther Tree ", but was also achieved with the help of a building block campaign at the north portal of Worms Cathedral. The privilege of freedom granted to the city by Friedrich I. Barbarossa in 1184 was once installed there. During the destruction of the city of Worms in connection with the Palatinate War of Succession, this inscription was also destroyed in 1689 by the troops of Louis XIV . The gap lasted for almost 300 years. Gustav Nonnenmacher wanted to close it. So he initiated a building block campaign for financing and in 1981 created the portrait of the emperor with the dedication text of the original document in the same place, including the remaining columns.

His last major work was the Nibelungenliedbrunnen in Worms in 2003 , which he received as a gift to the citizens of his city with the support of a donor. Gustav Nonnenmacher died on November 2nd, 2012 in Worms. On his grave is a work of art that he himself created ("knot"). He was married and has a daughter, a son and a grandson.

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Works (selection)

"Collapse - Departure" (1947/48, linden tree, 120 cm high)

This sculpture is the first major work by Gustav Nonnenmacher after the Second World War. It is a commissioned work that - even before the currency reform - was paid for in kind, mainly potatoes. A parish near Bad Kreuznach had ordered the work as a memorial . The pose in which that collapsing or struggling naked person remains, expresses both the contradicting mental state of the artist himself and that of the people of that time. Despair, bitterness, accusation, guilt, but in spite of everything also hope speaks from the sculpture. In addition to the statement that still impresses the viewer today, the work impresses with its perfect mastery of the material and its high level of sculptural art. The work is in the church of the Protestant community of Stein-Bockenheim near Bad Kreuznach.

" Luther tree relief " (1954, elm wood, made from the wood of the legendary Luther tree, 290 × 165 cm)

Nonnenmacher worked early on with the now indispensable method of fundraising. Through his initiative and according to his designs, thousands of Luther roses and Luther portraits were carved out of the wood of the dead, legendary Luther tree, which were sold throughout the Protestant world through the Lutheran World Federation and which, among other things, financed the reconstruction of the Magnus Church. Finally, Nonnenmacher created a large relief from this wood, which was attached over the stump of the tree, which was still more than three meters high. The focus is on Luther in front of the Worms Reichstag in 1521, next to him Emperor Charles V and powerful opponents of Luther, but also friends and supporters. On the edge of the table, Nonnenmacher recalls the legend about the origins of the tree, in which two women argue about the truth of Lutheran teaching. The old Luther tree , which is said to have been more than 40 meters high, rises above these scenes and in its leaves the Luther rose, Luther's seal and the symbol of world Lutheranism.

"Wall Cross" (1958, bronze and wood, life-size)

The first important commissions that nunmakers received concerned the artistic design in churches: altar crosses, pulpit reliefs, capitals, bell reliefs, baptismal fonts, lead glazing, retables, church portals and crucifixes. Gustav Nonnenmacher often did not depict the Christ figures in the usual suffering pose, with their heads hanging, covered in blood, as an image of a terrible execution. One of his early works in the Christ Church in Worms-Pfiffligheim shows an upright, free body without injuries, which is not fixed on the cross, but rises above it. He does not challenge pity and sadness, but inspires hope and confidence, points to the resurrection.

"Apocalyptic Horsemen" (1960, bronze and aluminum, approx. 300 cm high)

In the post-war period, Gustav Nonnenmacher received several orders from parishes and municipalities to create memorials to commemorate the victims of war and fascism. It was a concern of his, who had experienced the horror of war himself, to overcome the German tradition of hero commemoration with memorials for peace. In various forms and materials (relief and plastic, shell limestone and bronze) he has drawn on the symbolism of the apocalyptic horsemen (hunger, plague, war and death) several times. The war victims facility in Maikammer / Pfalz is unique in that it represents a fully plastic version of the apocalyptic horsemen. The text attributed to Franz Marc is attached to it: “The war is perishable. Countries are being devastated. Murdered people. Trample infants. Virtues denied. "

"Finish" (1966, bronze, approx. 200 cm high)

Reduced to the elementary movement sequences, this group of figures shows three sprinters at the finish line. The viewer experiences the ambivalence of the joint sporting competition true to the Olympic motto "citius, altius, fortius", which is also the norm of having to win and win. The sculpture is located on the sports grounds of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.

"Little Garbage" (1973, object installation in white concrete, 65 × 45 cm)

Gustav Nonnenmacher created a collage from waste materials from an artist's studio. In addition to brushes, a cast bronze overflow, glass smalts, squeezed out tubes, no longer usable modeling loops and broken glasses, Nonnenmacher added something that seemed superfluous to him: in addition to a Mercedes star and kitschy sepulchral art, also his original “German Cross in Gold”, which he Was awarded in 1943.

"Kassandra" (1974, bronze on wooden plate, 170 cm high)

Kassandra is one of the numerous free works that Gustav Nonnenmacher created without any intention to sell. He wanted them to be shown as artistic commentary in changing locations or in exhibitions in order to stimulate reflection, discourse and criticism. Although he was convinced of parliamentary democracy, he found, especially in those years, that so many important topics were talked to death in society and in parliaments, that all too often talkativeness and vain self-expression dominated. In a society characterized by “repressive tolerance” (Marcuse), the clear-sighted and analytical gaze of the critic threatens to disappear in the arbitrariness of pluralism, to which everything is equally valid. This installation should be shown alternately in the vestibules of different local, federal or national parliaments. From 2013 to 2014 she stood in the lobby of the Mainz state parliament. The work is in the possession of the nunnery heirs and is currently on permanent loan to the Museum of the City of Worms.

"Europe" (1984, stucco, life-size)

When in the early 80s a majority of the population turned in powerful demonstrations against the plan of the American president to deadly arm the Soviet Union with nuclear missiles ("Pershing II") stationed in Germany, Gustav Nonnenmacher did not take to the streets. He commented on the situation with artistic means and created the torso “Europe”: The apparently protective hands are not Europe's own, they are rather gripping and possessive male hands; the superpower USA has Europe under control. On a second level, however, the symbolism also connotes the prevailing gender relations, ostensibly by legitimizing the rule of men over women and, in particular, the body of women, on the pretext of their need for protection. The work is in the possession of the nunnery heirs and is currently on permanent loan to the Museum of the City of Worms.

"Worms Wheel of Fortune" (1986, bronze approx. 500 cm high, wheel diameter 240 cm)

In front of the endlessly rotating wheel of fortune, the viewer is drawn by the epochs and scenes of this historic city of Worms, captured in reliefs: the Celtic and Roman times, the Nibelungen saga, the 1,000-year-old Jewish history, the city of the Reichstag and the imperial wedding, the Nibelungen- and Lutherstadt, but also fascism, the destruction in various wars and the shadow of the nearby nuclear power station. On the opposite side of the wheel of fortune, facing the Obermarkt, the citizens of Worms are shown in relief-like scenes with their festivals and customs in the cycle of the year.

"Der Rufer" (1989, bronze on plinth, 220 cm)

It stands larger than life in front of the Trinity Church in Mannheim-Sandhofen. Unlike other callers , he is not just a sender of a message, his gesture rather shows that he is stopping and listening at the same time, hoping for a reaction, an echo. Whether he reminds of something, whether he admonishes, warns or appeals, whether he agitates or preaches - he represents an image for free, open and reversible communication.

"Arche Creation" (1993, bronze on stone pedestals, 175 cm high)

The Arche Creation represents a plea made of bronze for the endangered nature, for animals, plants and people. Originally this work was created in 1993 for the Protestant church in Glauberg / Wetterau, whose congregation was particularly committed to animal welfare at the time. The theme of the sculpture is the speechlessness of creation, which experiences compassion in the place where God's word is preached. The basically speechless part of creation - expressed by the naked, defenseless and mouthless female figure as well as by the symbolized flora and fauna in the ark that she holds in her arms - experiences language at the place where the word of God is proclaimed, the church pulpit, Intercession and protection. The dialogic basic idea of ​​the architecture of the work of art is based on the viewer establishing the connection between the work of art and the pulpit. In 2001 a new pastor called the figure “neo-pagan”, had it theatrically veiled and finally banished it - broken into parts - from the church to a basement room. In 2007 it was bought by a private person and placed in the premises of an animal welfare organization ("Animals' Angels"). For the exhibition on the 100th birthday of Gustav Nonnenmacher it was on view in the Museum of the City of Worms until January 2015.

"Nibelungenliedbrunnen in Worms" (2003, bronze, approx. 350 cm high)

The last major work that Gustav Nonnenmacher created in 2003 at the age of 89 was the Nibelungenliedbrunnen. Its theme is the Nibelungenlied, the most important text of the High Middle Ages, the core of which is the Nibelungen saga, which mainly takes place in Worms and tells of the smashing of the Burgundian empire around the year 436. The fountain shows itself as a huge open book, on the pages of which stanzas are reproduced partly in Middle High German, partly in New High German. One looks into the pages, between which the dramatic key scenes of the saga are depicted in three plastic groups of figures: the overpowering of Brunhild by Gunther with the help of Siegfried under the cloak of invisibility, the quarrel of the queens about the right of way into the cathedral and at the top the climax of the event, Hagen's murder of Siegfried. The fountain was donated to the city of Worms by Friedel Schärf, the owner of a Worms factory, who, like nunmakers, felt connected to the city.

  • Breakdown departure

  • Luther tree

  • Apocalyptic Horsemen (original monument from Maikammer)

  • finish

  • Wall cross

  • Small garbage

  • Kassandra detail

  • Europe

  • Wheel of Fortune

  • The caller

  • Nibelungenliedbrunnen

Materials

Gustav Nonnenmacher worked with a variety of materials, materials and methods. His first works after the Second World War were sculptures made of wood, mainly linden and walnut, but also elvers, e.g. B. for the "Luther tree". The first great works in public space were stone sculptures (sandstone and shell limestone). Then he made sculptures in stucco, and finally he used the methods of working out his motifs in ceramic and in concrete. Occasionally he also worked extensively in glass (e.g. Bad König) or with found materials and in mixed forms. From the 1970s onwards, he preferred the execution of large reliefs, sculptural figures, monuments and fountains in bronze, often in cooperation with the art foundries Eschenburg, Rincker in Sinn / Dillkreis, and Strassacker in Süßen.

  • Nana; Limewood, approx. 30 cm high, 1945

  • Sgraffito ; Wall design on architect house, approx. 700 cm, 1952

  • Lead-glazed window wall in the Bad König funeral hall, glass, approx. 12 m long, 1956

  • "Theorem", a² + b² = c², glazed hand ceramic with cast bronze overflow, approx. 50 cm, 1964

  • "Samaritans" at the Sinsheim hospital, shell limestone, larger than life, 1965

  • "Outsider", car tire inner tube on Stucco, 1974

  • "Educational pillar" at the entrance to the Worms educational center, concrete with artificial aluminum, approx. 9 m high, 1977

  • "Heron", fountain sculpture, bronze, approx. 160 cm, 1986

Awards

Gustav Nonnenmacher received the following awards.

  • Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (1989)
  • Medal of Merit of the City of Worms (1992)
  • Awarded honorary citizenship of the Worms-Hochheim district (2002)
  • Name of the "Gustav-Nonnenmacher-Platz" in Worms (2014)

literature

  • Gustav Nonnenmacher, Richard Wisser : Christian symbols. New designs. Callwey, Munich 1964.
  • Museum of the City of Worms (Ed.): Gustav Nonnenmacher. Retrospective and selection of works for his 70th birthday. Worms 1984.
  • Max Herdegen (ie Frank Nonnenmacher ), Gustav Nonnenmacher: The sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher. Intuition, material, object. Callwey, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-7667-1006-0 .
  • Erwin Martin, (accompanying text): Worms wheel of fortune by Gustav Nonnenmacher. Rheinische Druckerei GmbH Worms, brochure 1986.
  • Erwin Martin, (accompanying text): Worms Nibelungenliedbrunnen. Deringer GmbH printing company. Brochure 2004.
  • Frank Nonnenmacher: Who is Gustav Nonnenmacher? In: Holzgerlinger Bote, issue 4/2012 and 1/2013
  • Karl Schröding, I cannot and do not want to withdraw anything. A dead tree tells a story. In: Worms 2014. Home year book of the city of Worms. Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-936118-68-1 .
  • Erwin Martin, a Swabian who found his home in Worms. The sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher. A portrait. In: Worms 2014. Home year book of the city of Worms. Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-936118-68-1 .
  • Frank Nonnenmacher, you had it better than me. Two brothers in the 20th century. With a dedication by Konstantin Wecker. VAS publishing house. Bad Homburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88864-528-0 .

Web links

Commons : Gustav Nonnenmacher  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Who is Gustav Nonnenmacher? Holzgerlinger Bote, issue 4/2012, volume 27
  2. ↑ a b c d Frank Nonnenmacher: "You had it better than I" Two brothers in the 20th century. With a dedication by Konstantin Wecker. VAS-Verlag, Bad Homburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88864-528-0 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Max Herdegen (ie Frank Nonnenmacher) The sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher. Intuition - material - object. Callwey-Verlag 1991, ISBN 3-7667-1006-0 .
  4. ↑ a b Karl Schröding, I cannot and do not want to withdraw anything. A dead tree tells a story. In: Worms 2014. Home year book of the city of Worms. Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-936118-68-1 .
  5. ↑ a b Ulrike Schäfer: “Don't judge, but understand”. In: Nachrichten Worms, April 18, 2014
  6. ↑ a b Erwin Martin, (accompanying text): Wormser Nibelungenliedbrunnen. Deringer GmbH printing company. Brochure 2004.
  7. ↑ Max Herdegen: The sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher. Intuition - material - object. Munich 1991.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Museum of the City of Worms (Ed.): Gustav Nonnenmacher, retrospective and selection of works.
  9. ↑ Max Herdegen: The sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher. Intuition - material - object. Munich 1991.
  10. ↑ Ilona Hartmann: You give everything - and yet you never arrive. In: Der Mainzer - die Stadtillustrierte; Issue 245, February 2011.
  11. ^ Klaus T. Weber: Art Landscape Campus Gutenberg University Mainz. 2006.
  12. ↑ Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate: Kassandra. A sculpture by Gustav Nonnenmacher in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament. Mainz 2013.
  13. ↑ "A worthy place for 'Kassandra'". In: Wormser Zeitung from April 16, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Worms pays tribute to Gustav Nonnenmacher". In: Wormser Zeitung from October 28, 2014.
  15. ↑ Frank Nonnenmacher: You had it better than me. Two brothers in the 20th century. With a dedication by Konstantin Wecker. Bad Homburg 2014.
  16. ↑ Erwin Martin, (accompanying text): Worms wheel of fortune by Gustav Nonnenmacher. Rheinische Druckerei GmbH Worms, brochure 1986.
  17. ↑ Alfred Heierling: Evangelical Trinity Church Sandhofen. Mannheim 2004.
  18. ↑ "Nunmaker's 'Arche' is anchored in Worms". In: Wormser Zeitung from October 31, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Creation of the Ark has arrived". In: Wormser Zeitung from November 5, 2014.
  20. ↑ Sirenenplatz is to become Gustav-Nonnenmacher-Platz. In: Nibelungen Kurier of: June 17, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Nunmaker, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 2012
Place of death Worms