Hans Eickworth

Hans Alfred Eickworth (born February 8, 1930 in Gablenz , † 1995 in Westerland ) was a German sculptor and graphic artist .

Life

Hans Eickworth was born in Gablenz near Crimmitschau in 1930 as the son of the resistance fighter Alfred Eickworth (1907-1943). The father, who actively organized the resistance against National Socialism in the Crimmitschau area in 1933 and 1934 , was fatally wounded in 1943 while fleeing the notorious Penal Division 999 on the Greek island of Karpathos .

After the Second World War , Eickworth initially worked as a painter and commercial graphic artist. In 1952 he came to the newly created Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP), where he rose to lieutenant and was sent by this as a talented amateur artist to study at the art college in Dresden in 1955 . In 1959 he received the Zwickau Max Pechstein Prize for the bust of the mathematics student Abdullaye Mbaye , a sponsorship award for young artists. In 1960 he became a master student of the sculptor Fritz Cremer at the East Berlin Academy of the Arts . In February 1961 the Berliner Zeitung wrote about Hans Eickworth that he was the first professional artist to emerge from the ranks of the National People's Army . From 1963 he worked as a freelance artist. The focus of his work was the socialist image of man, which is clear from his numerous public and often central free sculptures and busts in the former GDR . In 1971, alongside the writers Harry Thürk and Heinz Senkbeil, he was one of the first winners of the newly created Theodor Körner Prize .

View from Reesberg, where Eickworth lived, to Hohenleipisch

In the following years his works reappeared again and again in prominent places in the country, for example the sculpture "Grenzsoldaten" in front of the Rotes Rathaus in Berlin, the sculpture "Vietnamesin" on the Schlossinsel in Berlin-Köpenick or the sculpture "Youth of our time" stolen in 2011 “At the former FDJ youth college at Lake Bogensee . The Rosa Luxemburg bust in front of the Leipzig University of Telecommunications was also made by Eickworth. He later moved with his family from Berlin to Hohenleipisch north of the southern Brandenburg town of Elsterwerda .

After the political upheaval in the early 1990s, many of his works of art disappeared from the public eye because they no longer corresponded to the spirit of the new era. His Karl Marx bust, which was only erected in the center of Elsterwerda in 1983, was dismantled in 1994, for example, and after it had been stored in the local building yard for a few years, it was put back in a corner in the city park not far from the original location.

A few years after the fall of the Wall , Eickworth launched a project in 1995 with the Niederlausitz World Park to reuse the former military properties in the area of ​​the Hohenleipisch air ammunition facility ("Muna" for short), where the Red Army had since withdrawn. He died in September of the same year on the North Sea island of Sylt . The world park project was pursued for some time and discussed in public, but in 1999 it was closed. The Muna area was placed under protection in 2004 as the “Hohenleipisch” nature reserve.

A mural he created in autumn 1979 at what is now Hohenleipischer Elementary School was placed under monument protection in 2014. Eickworth also created a few other well-known public works of art in the area, some of which are now also listed buildings. In Elsterwerda, this still includes the group of figures from the Elsterbrunnen representing the city's coat of arms on the local market square , which was integrated into a new fountain after its renovation. And the Eulenspiegel fountain in front of the small gallery “Hans Nadler” is also a central point. Hans Eickworth also created other Eulenspiegel fountains for Werdau in Saxony and the Plänterwald cultural park in Berlin . While the first work has remained at its location to the present day, the Berlin work of art is now lost after it was stolen. In his former hometown of Crimmitschau, Eickworth also created the symbol of the city with the sculpture “Spinner”.

Works (selection)

year	image	description	material	Location / former location	Remarks
1954		stele		Sachsenhausen concentration camp	Work created as a lay artist, which shows a prisoner leaning against his liberator.
1959		"Martial artist"			Thesis
1961		Math student Abdullaye Mbaye	bronze		Art Prize of the City of Zwickau
1965		Plastic "Youth of Our Time" at the former FDJ youth college at Bogensee	bronze	Bogensee in Lanke	At the opening of the 17th one-year course on September 1, 1965, Horst Schumann, First Secretary of the Central Council of the FDJ, unveiled it on the “Platz der Freundes”. Stolen in 2011, since then missing
1967		"Spinner"	bronze	Crimmitschau market fountain	On March 7, 1967, the 2.10 m high bronze figure was unveiled on the market fountain as the new landmark of the city of Crimmitschau.
1967		"The border soldier"	bronze	Former location: in front of the Berlin city headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst , Rheinpfalzallee	Plastic in memory of the soldiers who perished during their service.
		Plastic "border soldiers"		Former location: in front of the Rotem Rathaus , Berlin
1970		"Vietnamese mother with child"	Bronze, granite	Long bridge, Schlossinsel Berlin-Koepenick	- Plastic: 1.75 × 0.50 × 0.50 - Base: 0.14 × 0.67 × 0.73
1970		"Eulenspiegelbrunnen"	Natural stone	Werdau , Weberstrasse
1971		"Rosa Luxemburg"		Engineering school for postal and telecommunications in Leipzig
1972		"Discussion" sculpture	bronze	Guben , Friedrich-Schiller-Strasse
1973		"Till Eulenspiegel Fountain"		Plänterwald cultural park , Berlin	lost
1977		"Joy of Life" fountain		Bad Saarow station forecourt	The host of the “Klostergarten” pub near the road to the Saarow cemetery was the model for one of the male figures.
1978		"Friedrich Engels"		Military Academy Friedrich Engels Dresden
1979		Mural		Hohenleipisch	The mural at the Hohenleipischer Goethe School was created in 1979 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the naming of the school in sgraffito technique.
1980		"Elsterbrunnen"	bronze	Elsterwerda	The group of figures from the Elsterwerda Elsterbrunnen was integrated into a basin in a green area on the local market around 1980, which had existed there since 1967. This basin was demolished during the renovation work that lasted from 2007 to 2015. The group of figures was integrated into a new fountain in the center of the newly designed market.
1980		"Eulenspiegelbrunnen"	bronze	Elsterwerda	The Eulenspiegelbrunnen was handed over on April 5, 1980 on the occasion of the opening of the “Small Gallery” in Elsterwerda. Since the fountain was set up the wrong way around in his absence, contrary to the original ideas of the artist, he sawed off the head on site and turned it so that it has since looked away from the building towards the west. It was Eickworth who was the first to present his work in the newly created gallery.
1982		Monument in the city park	concrete	Elsterwerda old cemetery	Four meter high stele, which is a listed building. The stele is clad with four half-relief panels on the themes: The suffering of the antifascists and their liberation by Soviet soldiers , youth and mother - the reunion after liberation , the Jewish girl Anne Frank , as well as continued life and hope in the future .
1983		"Karl Marx bust"	concrete	Elsterwerda	The bust was erected in 1983 on today's Elsterwerda Monument Square in place of a VVN monument. The bust was removed in 1994 and then stored in the municipal building yard for a few years. Since October 1, 1997, it has been set up again in the nearby city park.
1985		"Shetland ponies"	Artificial stone	Berlin-Koepenick	Outdoor sculpture set up in the former residential area of Salvador Allende II .
1985		"Globe"	concrete	Sigmund-Jähn-School Gröditz	Heavily damaged, stored on a site of the Gröditzer construction yard.
		"Globe"	concrete	Elsterwerda-Biehla primary school center	The sculpture is located at the playground on the school grounds.
1986		"Ponies"	concrete	Primary school "Fürst Pückler" Bad Muskau	The group of figures had originally been in front of the Bad Muskau children's health home since 1986. In 2013 it was restored and implemented with the help of donations by Eickworth's son Alfred Eickworth.
1987		"Dean Reed Bust"	concrete	Berlin-Rauchfangswerder , Moßkopfring	Bust in memory of the singer and actor Dean Reed, who died in 1986
1987		"Blumenfrauenbrunnen"	bronze	Dobrichau

Exhibitions (selection)

• April 15 - May 18, 1980: Small gallery "Hans Nadler", Elsterwerda

Awards (selection)

• 1959: Max Pechstein Prize
• 1971: Theodor Körner Prize as first lieutenant dR

Web links

Commons : Hans Eickworth  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes and individual references

1. ↑ Entry in the personal wiki of the SLUB Dresden ( memento of the original from June 18, 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. , accessed June 16, 2016.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} From the history of the city of Crimmitschau ( Memento of the original from June 16, 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. , accessed June 16, 2016. 
3. ↑ Pictures from the life of our army - works by amateur artists in the exhibition. The art in the National People's Army. In: Neue Zeit , March 1, 1961.
4. ↑ ^{a b} The National People's Army in the Visual Arts. In Berliner Zeitung , February 19, 1961.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} K. Wachholtz: Eulenspiegel-Jahrbuch . tape 30 , 1990, pp. 103 .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Rüdiger Wenzke: Ulbricht's soldiers: The National People's Army 1956 to 1971 . Ch. Links Verlag, 2013, ISBN 3-86284-206-1 , p. 636 .
7. ↑ Veit Rösler: Hans Eickworth's wall graphic becomes a monument - appreciation of the artist's work at the Goethe elementary school in Hohenleip. In: Lausitzer Rundschau . May 13, 2014.
8. ^ Günter Morsch : From memory to monument . Ed. Hentrich Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-89468-185-3 , p. 139 .
9. ↑ Organizational office for gymnastics and sports festival, children and youth spartakiade of the GDR (ed.): Art and Sport . 1983, p. 9 .
10. ^ The National People's Army in the Visual Arts. In: Neues Deutschland , February 19, 1961, p. 6
11. ↑ Oliver Köhler: The bronze statue has disappeared. In: Märkische Oderzeitung . March 4, 2011.
12. ↑ Virtual city tour - market square - town hall on the municipal homepage of Crimmitschau , accessed on June 17, 2016.
13. ↑ "Border soldier" sculpture solemnly unveiled. In: New Germany . March 1, 1967, p. 8.
14. ↑ Monument "The Border Soldier" . In: Hans Maur : Reminder, memorial and memorial sites of the workers' movement in Berlin-Lichtenberg , Berlin district management of the SED, Berlin 1982, p. 114
15. ^ Commission art in public space of the Treptow-Köpenick district of Berlin: Directory of art in public space - Treptow-Köpenick district. January, status 2016 ( online as a PDF file ( memento of the original from June 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) 
16. ^ Memorial for Rosa in Leipzig . In: Neues Deutschland, March 6, 1971, p. 2
17. ↑ Felix Rentzsch: The dying of a city on the outermost edge in Die Welt , August 29, 2015.
18. ↑ Cheerfulness under the ferris wheel . In: Neue Zeit , March 14, 1973, p. 8
19. ↑ Michael Zehender: The GDR's fairground attracts burglars en masse. In: The world. August 14, 2013.
20. ↑ http://www.haus-wieynk.de/fewo/informationen.php , accessed on January 15, 2016.
21. ↑ Honor for Friedrich Engels at the Dresden Military Academy . In: Neues Deutschland, November 23, 1978, p. 2
22. ↑ Ida Kretzschmar: Where heads are in demand and are twisted. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. December 22, 2015.
23. ↑ ^{a b} Exhibition directory of the small gallery "Hans Nadler" on the homepage of the house, accessed on June 18, 2016.
24. ↑ Database of the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the State Archaeological Museum ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 9, 2014.  
25. ↑ Regina Scheer: Dealing with the monuments. A research in Brandenburg. Ed .: Brandenburg State Center for Political Education and Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg, Potsdam 2003, p. 53. ( Online as PDF file ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2007 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 note. ) 
26. ↑ Werner Galle, Werner Horn: Elsterwerdas places in the course of time. In: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Heimatkunde e. V. Bad Liebenwerda (ed.): Home calendar - For the country between the Elbe and Elster. No. 56. Gräser Verlag, Großenhain 2004, ISBN 3-932913-47-7 , pp. 99-116.
27. ^ Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (ed.): Art exhibition of the GDR . 1987, p. 489 .
28. ↑ Eric Weser: "GDR art in stock" in Sächsische Zeitung , July 14, 2018
29. ↑ Regina Weiß: Pony sculpture is now moving within Bad Muskau. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. August 14, 2013.
30. ↑ The ponies moved last time. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. 15th November 2014.
31. ↑ http://www.deanreed.de/schule/bueste.html accessed on June 15, 2016.
32. ↑ Not just once a year in full bloom . In: Neue Zeit, December 1, 1987, p. 3