Heinrich Splieth

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Heinrich Splieth 1900

Heinrich Splieth (born February 18, 1877 in Elbing ; † March 21, 1929 in Iserlohn ) was a German sculptor and medalist .

Live and act

Heinrich Splieth was born as the son of the wood sculptor and artisan Heinrich Josef Splieth . First he learned the trade in his father's workshop. After his sudden death he left high school and his hometown Elbing and entered the studio for Christian art in Münster as an apprentice. After two years there, he worked at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin from 1897 to 1903 under Ludwig Manzel and Wilhelm Haverkamp . Here he created the first award-winning works. Splieth became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and had a master's studio there from 1903 to 1908 under again Manzel and Arthur Kampf. In 1905 he made the first big trip to Rome.

On his return home, he created the model of the "Descent from the Cross" by 1908, which was later made from Cotta sandstone in the Nicolaikirche in Elbing. With this work he won the Raussendorf Prize of the Academy. At the same time he was given by the chapter to Frombork the scholarship Preuckianum granted. With the funds thus acquired, he lived and studied in Rome for two more years . When he returned, he built his own artist's studio in Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm II. , Who had the imperial majolica factory built on his manor Cadinen , noticed him and persuaded him to work. Heinrich Splieth created the first majolica figures for cadines that were presented to the emperor. Manzel and other artists from the Royal Academy also worked for the majolica factory.

During the First World War , Cadinen first complained about Splieth, in 1916 he was drafted and suffered a puncture in the lung. In Marienburg he was in the hospital. This injury only apparently healed, later reopened as pleurisy infected with TB, and led to Heinrich Splieth's early death at the age of 52.

The Descent from the Cross approx. 1905 - installation in 1924 in Nikolaikirche in Elbing

Heinrich Splieth created numerous works: in addition to monuments (e.g. the equestrian monument to Wilhelm I in Wriezen), tombs and fountains, also busts (e.g. a bronze bust of Theodor Mommsen in the Garding city park - 1911 - was stolen in 2000), Statues and models of award-winning animals for the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as award plaques and Cadin majolica. Splieth had an aversion to the “academic hams” of the Wilhelmine era. He did not like the conservative understanding of art by Wilhelm II. For him it was about simplicity in execution with deep expression at the same time. But he also had to compromise on his assignments. Materials were u. a. Stone, bronze or majolica . At the center of his work, however, were Christian motifs, Madonnas, Christ and his suffering. As his last work he created de profundis , his own tomb, under which he is buried in the Iserlohn municipal cemetery .

The grave of Heinrich Splieth and his wife Bertha with his last work "De profundis" in the main cemetery in Iserlohn.

Splieth Museum

His life's work was honored with the opening of a Splieth Museum in his home town of Elbing in 1929 shortly after his death. This project was run by Heinrich's wife Berta Splieth, who made all the exhibits available to the museum. The museum together with the inventory was in the war completely destroyed, so often witness work only pictorial evidence of Henry Splieths. Some smaller works are in private hands. According to the current state of knowledge, only the Ellinger fountain in Wriezen (1923), the mausoleum of the Moschel family in Angermünde (1913), the (damaged) war memorial at Braunsberg (before 1920), and a copy of the Adoration of the Shepherds (a Order of the Crown Princess) has been preserved. Several smaller works can be found in the East Prussian State Museum in Lüneburg.

He received many prizes and awards for his work.

Heinrich Splieth was interested in Meister Eckhart , Jakob Böhme , Beethoven and the Indian Vedas ; He felt a special bond with Lao Tse . That is why there were verses from the Tao-Te-King above the entrance to the Splieth Museum :

The called one dwells
on work without acting.
He practices teaching without speaking.
All beings emerge
and he does not deny them.
He works and does not keep.
When he has done the work
, he does not stop there.
And precisely because it does not persist,
it does not remain abandoned.

literature

  • The legacy of Heinrich Splieth. In: Elbinger Zeitung. October 24, 1929.
  • Opening of the Elbinger Splieth Museum. In: Elbinger Zeitung. November 4, 1929.
  • Splieth's art. In: Elbinger Zeitung. November 15, 1924.
  • Karl Märtin: Heinrich Splieth. In: Ostdeutsche Monatshefte. 1929.
  • Pious, upright and humble. In: The Ostpreußenblatt. March 18, 1989, p. 9.
  • Heinrich Splieth, a sculptor from Warmia. in: Julius Pohl's illustrated house calendar. 1929.
  • Heinrich Splieth. In: Germania. October 3, 1920.
  • Edward Parzych's passion for collecting. In: Barbara Pospieszna: Ceramica Kadynska W Zbiorach Edwarda Parzycha. Elblag 2012, pp. 32-43 ( online ).
  • Fritz Pudor: Heinrich Splieth. In: Elbinger Hefte. Issue 28/29.
  • Margot Wolf: Cadinen, Cadiner majolica. 1988.
  • Heinrich Splieth: About plastic representation of animals. In: Messages from the DLG . May 5, 1928
  • From art and artists In: Magdeburger Generalanzeiger (illustrated weekly supplement). Nov. 1925
  • Prof. Dr. A. Ulbrich: Art history of East Prussia from the time of the order to the present. P. 261f. Koenigsberg, 1932
  • The good shepherd. Heinrich Splieth. In: Catholic Church Gazette. January 23, 1927
  • Rudolf Meyer-Bremen: Artist Lexicon East Prussia and West Prussia 1800–1945 , p. 164. Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 2012
  • The sculptor Heinrich Splieth. In: Elbinger Hefte, No. 34 , by Ursel Krüger-Splieth, 1983
  • German imperial monuments in old views, by Heinz Csallner, 1994

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Splieth  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinrich Splieth. Artist. German Society for Medal Art V., accessed December 1, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Splieth, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Elblag
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1929
Place of death Iserlohn