Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker

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Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker (born July 5, 1921 in Ulm ; † August 19, 2010 there ) was a German painter , sculptor and ceramist .

life and work

Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker was born on July 5, 1921 as the son of the painter Otto Schäffenacker in Ulm. In 1949 he completed an apprenticeship with the sculptor Rudolf Pauschinger in Stuttgart. After studying art and training as a painter and sculptor, he founded the “Atelier Schäffenacker” in Ulm in the early 1950s. There he painted, created sculptures out of wood and stone and began working as a ceramist from 1948.

First he designed everyday objects such as vases, ashtrays or bowls. In the second half of the 1950s, wall panels with relief decorations were created, primarily with figurative motifs. For example, he made animals as sculptures. Later, the forms of everyday objects developed more and more into sculptural objects, and the motifs on the wall panels became freer and more abstract.

In the 1950s, Schäffenacker mainly worked with white, later the vases and bowls almost exclusively in red. The wall ceramics are usually stamped with an embossing stamp: "Schäffenacker, hand-formed, Ulm / Thursday, Made in Germany". Vases, bowls, etc. are only sometimes marked with this stamp, but provided with a number. In some cases, adhesive labels were attached to the ceramics, in the 1950s with “Atelier Schäffenacker”, later with a black “Sch” on a gold background.

In 1960 he moved with his workshop and his family to Ulm-Böfingen. He worked there with three kilns and sometimes up to ten employees. All works were either unique or were cast in small batches of up to one hundred pieces from plaster of paris negatives or with plaster of paris molds.

In addition to his ceramic work, Schäffenacker was a painter and sculptor, he carried out his work in various materials, preferably in stainless steel and bronze, but also stone, wood and in combinations of materials. He furnished numerous public buildings ( art in architecture ), especially schools, with wall reliefs and designed, among other things, fountains and sculptures for public spaces. He also designed wall reliefs for private houses, etc. a. for swimming pools.

At the beginning of the manufactory, the artist mainly sold locally and regionally, from the mid-1950s he began to take part in trade fairs and sold his work through retailers in various cities, both in Germany and in neighboring countries.

The wall reliefs are almost exclusively made using the "bar technique". On the one hand, the motifs on the wall reliefs reflected the zeitgeist of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and on the other hand, they and his utility ceramics designed in his typical style helped shape the aesthetics of ceramic production in Germany during these years.

Schäffenacker has received a large number of national and international prizes for his ceramic work. In the laudation for the artist's 85th birthday, Justus Engelfried wrote: “The individual objects are outstanding works by German and international ceramic design (e.g. the vase objects). The variety and number of wall panels are unique in Germany. The entire ceramic oeuvre of the designer and artist Schäffenacker ... is probably even unparalleled anywhere in the world. "

In 1993, due to age, the artist's ceramic work ended when he had the kiln in his studio dismantled.

Awards and honors

  • 1953: Art Prize of the Young, Stuttgart.
  • 1966 and 1969: Diploma at the Concorso Internazionale della Ceramica d'Arte , Faenza
  • 1975: XXXIII Concorso internazionale della ceramica d'arte contemporanea , Faenza: First prize of the Camera Commercio Ravenna.
  • 1986: Medal of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .
  • 1990: World premiere of "Zwei Orchesterbilder nach Schäffenacker", op. 34 by Jörg Riedlbauer , a commission for the Philharmonic Orchestra of the city of Heidenheim

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • 1972: PUB - Stockholm / Sweden
  • 1979: "Helmut Schäffenacker, drafts and works", Dresdner Bank, Koblenz
  • 1980/1981: "Schäffenacker, painter, sculptor, ceramist", Sparkasse and Wertingen Castle,
  • Gallery Krichel, Mönchengladbach
  • Volksbank Gallery, Esslingen
  • 1983: "Plastic - Objects", VBKW, Künstlerhaus Ulm
  • 1986: "Club of Encounters", Ursulinenhof Linz / Austria
  • 1992: "Objects, Sculpture, Art 1950–92", VBKW, Künstlerhaus Ulm
  • 1997: "Helmut Schäffenacker, 30 + 1 (100), sculptures, pictures, objects in the bank", Galerie Ulmer Volksbank, Ulm
  • 1998: Gallery in the Kornhauskeller, Ulm

Working in public space (selection)

  • Banks: Sparkassen Blaustein (ceramic wall), Laupheim, Weißenhorn, Illertissen (ceramic wall), Langenau (ceramic wall with fountain); Ulmer Volksbank (ceramic wall)
  • Schools in Illertissen, Ingerkingen, Pfaffenhofen, Burgau secondary school (ceramic wall), Ulm brewery school (ceramic wall)
  • Company building: AOK Ulm; IHK Ulm (ceramic mosaic)
  • Sculptures on Augsburger-Tor-Platz, Neu-Ulm;
  • Wielandbrunnen, Ulm; Friedrichsau, Ulm

Sources / publications / catalogs (selection)

  • Atelier Schäffenacker, Stauffenbergstraße 10, 7900 Ulm (Ed.) Our program: Ceramics, no year (attributed in the 1970s)
  • Federal Association of Visual Artists Region Donau-Iller (ed.). Catalog of the first exhibition, Ulm 1977 and 1979
  • Catalogo del 33. Concorso internazionale della ceramica, Faenza 1975
  • Catalogo del 34. Concorso internazionale della ceramica dárte contemporanea, Faenza, 1976
  • Building Department of the City of Ulm / Ulmer Museum (Ed.) Sculptures for the State Garden Show, Ulm, 1980
  • Cultural Office of the State Capital Stuttgart / Association of Visual Artists Württemberg e. V. Stuttgart Region (ed.). The naked man, Stuttgart 1982
  • State of Baden-Württemberg / Free State of Bavaria (ed.) Dorf-Krug-Prize: Art creation in Swabia - contemporary art of the early 80s from Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, Nersingen 1981
  • State Capital Stuttgart / Cultural Office of the State Capital Stuttgart (ed.). Sculpture outdoors 1991/92: 6 sculptors set up sculptures in the city districts, Stuttgart 1991
  • Makus, H., 1950s ceramics, 1998, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart
  • Makus, H., ceramics of the 50s, 2005, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart
  • Schürle, W./Landratsamt Alb-Donau-Kreis (ed.). Art and art funding in the Alb-Donau district, Ulm 2005
  • Thomas, MP, German Ceramics and Porcelain from the 1960s and 1970s, Bad Rappenau, 2006
  • Ulmer Kunststiftung (ed.) Caius Burri, Petra Kollross. Large sculpture in Ulm and Neu-Ulm, Ulm, undated
  • Ulmer Kunststiftung, Ulm University (ed.) Solarjahr -sculptura ulm 96: Kinetic objects and sound sculptures, driven by sun - wind - water, Ulm 1996
  • Ulmer Museum (ed.). Ulmer Kunst 73, Ulm, 1973
  • Ulmer Museum (ed.). Ulmer Kunst 76, Ulm, 1976
  • Ulmer Museum (ed.). Ulmer Kunst 82, Ulm, 1982
  • Ulm University / City of Ulm / Ulmer Kunststiftung (ed.) 2nd International Artists' Symposium Ulm: Forecast and Parallel Program, Art and Science in 2000, Ulm, 2000

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Makus (1998), p. 15.
  2. ↑ Pictures of his work can be found in almost all publications about the artist. Exemplary for his sculptures: Association of Visual Artists Württemberg e. V. Donau-Iller Group (1983). Exemplary for the ceramic works: Makus (1998), color table p. 201 u. 202; Makus (2005) image pp. 419-423; Thomas (2006) pp. 62-87; Schäffenacker (2006)
  3. ↑ Makus (2005), p. 58
  4. ↑ see and compare for the 1950s and early 1960s Makus (1998) and Makus (2005)
  5. ↑ see and compare extensively for the 1970s Thomas (2006)
  6. ↑ Justus Engelfried: From Ulm into the world: "hand-formed, Ulm / Thu." - A laudation on the 85th birthday of the artist Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker. In: HF Schäffenacker (Ed.): Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker. Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 2006, pp. 7–9.
personal data
SURNAME Schäffenacker, Helmut Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, sculptor and ceramist
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulm
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 2010
Place of death Ulm