Hedwig Haller-Braus

Hedwig Haller-Braus (born March 15, 1900 in Würzburg , † November 4, 1989 in Gossau ZH ) was a Swiss sculptor and small sculptor .

Life

Hedwig Braus was born as the second of three daughters in the Braus family. Her father, Hermann Braus, was a professor of anatomy at Heidelberg University . It is likely that Hedwig Braus' father's job aroused interest in the human body at an early age. During her time at the grammar school in Berlin, Braus actually wanted to be a dancer, but began modeling as a child. At the age of 15 she met the sculptor Hermann Haller for the first time in her parents' house , and he immediately recognized her talent. From this first encounter, a letter developed that probably encouraged Braus in her desire to become a sculptor.

In 1917, Braus began studying at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Art Academy. A year later she became a student of Karl Albiker in Ettlingen near Karlsruhe, who created a portrait of her in terracotta. In May 1919 Braus moved to Zurich and joined Hermann Haller's atelier as a student. In the years that followed, she was a model for Hermann Haller's sculptures several times.

Between 1921 and 1923, Braus and Haller went on various study trips together, including to Berlin, Paris and Italy. In the 1920s, her Zurich circle of friends included the sculptors Hermann Hubacher , Charles Otto Bänninger, Karl Geiser , Germaine Richier and Marino Marini . She also maintained contacts with the painters Ernesto de Fiori , Ernst Morgenthaler and Johann Wilhelm von Tscharner . In addition, she was friends with the Russian dancer couple Sacharoff. In 1937 Braus became a Swiss citizen and on April 5, 1945 she married Hermann Haller.

After Haller's death (1950), they took various study trips to the USA and Morocco. In 1953/1954 she lived for a long time in an Indian village in Mexico, where she dealt with the art of the Maya. Between 1960 and 1975 she undertook further study trips to Greece, Egypt, Crete and Turkey.

A stroke in 1985 forced her to give up her creative work. Braus therefore moved from Zollikerstr. 21 in Zurich, where she had lived with Hermann Haller since 1925 and also after his death, to Gossau ZH. Hedwig Braus died there on November 4, 1989. She was buried in the grave of Hermann Haller in the Hohe Promenade private cemetery in the city of Zurich.

plant

Kneeling girl (detail, limestone fountain), 1946. Aegerten- / Werdstrasse, Zurich.

Hedwig Braus created sculptures and small sculptures in English cement, bronze and terracotta. Her central theme was the human body in motion. She was particularly interested in dancers, but also in wrestlers, boxers and other athletes. Static standing and seated sculptures can also be found among her figures. Often there are girls' nudes, and sometimes she worked with exotic models. Her figures are mostly characterized by softly modeled surfaces and tightly closed outlines. A slight abstraction can be seen in many of her smaller figures, but she never follows the abstraction tendencies of the sculptural development of the 20th century.

Initially, her work was strongly influenced by Hermann Haller, whose most gifted student she was considered. Braus also received important impulses for her work from Henry Moore at a meeting in London in 1947. Although Braus developed her own style that was independent of Hermann Haller, her work was and still is in the shadow of that of Haller and never received the recognition it deserved.

Publicly accessible works

• Dancing girl (bronze), 1943. Leimbach school complex, Wegackerstrasse, Zurich (District 2).
• Playing girl (bronze), 1953. Lachenzelg school complex, Imbisbühlstrasse, Zurich (District 10).
• Kneeling girl (limestone fountain), 1946 Aegerten- / Werdstrasse, Zurich (District 3).
• Boules player, 1978, Stadthalle, Bülach.
• Various works in the permanent exhibition of the Haller Atelier in Zurich
• Various works in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich
• Various works in the Glarner Kunstverein collection, Glarus.
• Various works in the Kunsthaus, Zofingen
• Various works in the Kunsthaus Chur

Playing girl (bronze), 1953. Lachenzelg school complex. Zurich.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1939: Zurich, Galerie Schmidlin (first exhibition)
• 1946: Zurich, exhibition of Zurich artists in the Helmhaus
• 1944: Zurich, Galerie Neupert
• 1952: Paris , Ariel Gallery
• 1957: Paris, Simone Badinier Gallery
• 1957: Zofingen , town house
• 1958: Zurich, SAFFA
• 1962: Biel , 3rd Swiss sculpture exhibition
• 1971: Zurich, Haller studio (outdoor area)
• 1972: Paris, 5th Biennale Internationale de Sculpture contemporaine, Musée Rodin
• 1976: Paris, 7th Biennale Internationale de Sculpture contemporaine, Musée Rodin
• 1978: Paris, 8th Biennale Internationale de Sculpture contemporaine, Musée Rodin
• 1987: Zurich- Leimbach , sculpture garden
• 1989: Zurich, Haller studio
• 1992: Glarus, Kunsthaus

literature

• Maria-Theresia Apel: Hermann Haller: Life and Work. Lit, Münster 1996 ( Art History: Monographs. Vol. 11).
• Angelika Affentranger-Kirchrath: Silent Ballet: The sculptures Hermann Haller and Hedwig Braus'. In: Art and Stone. Jg. 35, 1990, No. 1, ISSN  0023-5458 , pp. 6-8.
• Hermann Haller's studio: Bellerivestrasse / Höschgasse Zurich. Published by the Presidential Department of the City of Zurich on the exhibition of works by Hermann Haller and Hedwig Braus in the Haller studio, July 6th to September 24th, 1989.
• Glarner Kunstverein (ed.): The Glarner Kunstverein collection. Glarner Kunstverein, Glarus 1995, ISBN 3-9520472-6-0 , pp. 56, 240.
• Peter Killer: Camille and Auguste from Lake Zurich? In: Züritipp . July 21, 1989, p. 45.
• Anne Reich: In the shadow of Hermann Haller? To the sculptures by the sculptor Hedwig Braus. In: Züri-Woche . July 13, 1989, p. 41.

Lexicon entries

• General artist lexicon. The visual artists of all times and peoples. Saur, Munich 1992 ff.
• Artist Lexicon of Switzerland. XX. Century. Editing: E. Plüss, HC von Tavel. Huber, Frauenfeld 1958–1967.
• List of artists in Switzerland including the Principality of Liechtenstein. 1980-1990. Edited by the Swiss Institute for Art Research. Huber, Zurich / Lausanne 1991.
• Lexicon of contemporary Swiss artists. Edited by the Swiss Institute for Art Research. Huber, Frauenfeld 1981.
• Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. Seemann, Leipzig 1953–1962.

Web links

Commons : Hedwig Haller-Braus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Braus, Hedwig. In: Sikart

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the encounter cf. Apel, p. 36.
2. ↑ Apel, p. 36.
3. ↑ Collection of the Glarner Kunstverein, p. 56.
4. ↑ Apel, p. 229 FN 303.
5. ↑ Glarner Kunstverein, p. 56.
6. ↑ See Glarner Kunstverein, p. 56, Reich, p. 41, Killer, p. 45.