Helmut Lander

Helmut Lander (born October 31, 1924 in Weimar ; † October 22, 2013 in Darmstadt ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Lander was born in Weimar on October 31, 1924 in difficult economic times. After graduating from high school, he was drafted into the Air Force in 1942. Towards the end of the war he was employed by an anti-aircraft battery in the Leuna works and was thus captured by the Americans. He spent almost two years in different camps. During this time he tried to educate himself artistically. The Mainz sculptor Heinz Hemrich was his interlocutor in the camp in Metz . In the Strasbourg camp he was already posing as a "painter". At the end of 1946 he returned to occupied Weimar. Lander studied from 1946 to 1950 with Otto Herbig , drawing, Hermann Kirchberger , wall painting, and Albert Schaefer-Ast painting at the University of Architecture and Fine Arts Weimar . In 1950 he completed his studies with a diploma in wall painting. This was followed by a traineeship in the tapestry manufactory Sauermild, Oberwied / Thür. In 1951 he left the GDR because his work was classified as "Western decadent" and moved to Darmstadt . This went back to the acquaintance of the architect Karl-Heinz Schelling (1925–2009), who settled six months earlier in Darmstadt. Lander initially worked as a white binder and later as a workshop manager for mosaic work in a Darmstadt glassworks. In 1952 he had his first exhibition in a private apartment. From 1952 he studied building ceramics at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt and then worked as a freelancer. Lander had married his dance class acquaintance Gisela Gernandt in 1947. The children Petra (* 1954) and Stefan (* 1958) emerged from this marriage. After moving several times, the family moved into the house at Olbrichweg 20 on Mathildenhöhe, which was designed by his friend Schelling.

In 1956 Lander received a scholarship from the German Industry, Cologne. A year later, a travel grant from the Ostfriesische Reederei Rendsburg followed. From 1967 onwards, Lander mainly created sculptures. He achieved his artistic breakthrough in 1959 when he won the competition for concrete glass windows, the portal and the paraments at the Christ Church in Bochum (architect: Dieter Oesterlen ). In the period that followed, Lander created numerous works of art on site. Caused a stir u. a. the concrete reliefs at the Auditorium Maximum of the Technical University of Darmstadt in 1969 (Architect: Günter Koch). In 1971 he began teaching in the plastic design department at the Technical University of Darmstadt . Until 1989 he was a member of the board of the Darmstadt Secession . In 2013 he was awarded the Hessian Order of Merit on ribbon for his complete work. Helmut Lander died on October 22, 2013 at the age of 88 in Darmstadt.

Awards

• 1955: ars viva
• 1994: Ernst Rietschel Art Prize
• 2013: Hessian Order of Merit on ribbon

Works (selection)

• Wall mosaic The Flute Player, Woogsplatz 6 in Darmstadt 1952.
• Wall mosaic, Soderstrasse 14 in Darmstadt, 1953.
• Wall mosaic mosaic , Hochschulstraße 6, foyer of the large physics lecture hall TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1955
• Glass design for the Weißfrauenkirche in Frankfurt , 1956.
• Concrete glass design of the Christ Church in Bochum , 1959.
• Concrete glass design of the Jever town church , 1964
• Concrete glass design of the Reformed Church in Hamburg's Ferdinandstrasse, 1965.
• Sports hall at the Böllenfalltor , Darmstadt , 1965.
• Collaboration on the German military cemetery Futapass (Italian: Cimitero Militare Germanico ) in Italy in collaboration with the architect Dieter Oesterlen and the garden architects Walter Rossow and Ernst Cramer , 1962–1967.
• Audimax of the TH Darmstadt , exterior and interior design, 1969–1970.
• End Times , Plastic, 1983.
• Sculpture “Bells and Heads”, Meckenheim, 1983
• Altarpiece in the Jakobuskirche in Mannheim , 1988.
• Stained glass in the town church in Friedberg (Hesse) , 1994.
• Mosaic in the cafeteria in the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium in Darmstadt, upper floor B-building.

Image gallery

• 

  Helmut Lander: Head on Base 1991

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  Concrete relief, entrance area of ​​the Böllenfalltorhalle

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  Mosaic in the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium in Darmstadt

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  Mosaic in the entrance hall of the hospital in Darmstadt (2013)

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  End times, plastic in Magdeburg

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  Concrete relief, Audimax TU Darmstadt (detail)

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  Bronze sculpture fountain 1989 Computer center Darmstadt

literature

• Andreas Hornemann, From so far up to here , QuadratArtVerlag Magdeburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-935971-53-9 , No. 5
• Helmut Lander, painting, drawing, sculpture, art and architecture 1944–1994 , Darmstadt 1994.

Web links

Commons : Helmut Lander  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Helmut Lander , accessed April 4, 2014.
• Publications by Helmut Lander ( memento of April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 4, 2014.
• On the death of the Darmstadt artist Helmut Lander , accessed on April 4, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ars Viva
2. ↑ Helmut Lander in: Ernst-Rietschel-Kulturring e. V. , accessed April 4, 2014.
3. ↑ Honor for a life's work ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 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 notice. , accessed April 4, 2014. 
4. ^ Jever City Church , accessed on March 25, 2014.