Helmuth Uhrig

Helmuth Uhrig (born December 10, 1906 in Heidenheim an der Brenz ; † April 8, 1979 in Arnoldshain ), also known as Hellmuth Uhrig or Helmut Uhrig in various publications , was a sculptor , painter , glass painter, mosaic artist and art commissioner in the Evangelical Church of Württemberg and Hesse.

Life

Helmuth Uhrig spent his childhood and youth in Heidenheim an der Brenz, then after graduating from high school in 1925 he moved to the local arts and crafts school in Stuttgart (today art college ). There he studied with Alfred Lörcher . He was also Lörcher's assistant for a while. During this time he got to know Wassily Kandinsky personally and dealt intensively with Cubism . He thoroughly studied the works of Pablo Picasso and the writings on psychoanalysis by Carl Gustav Jung . After the Second World War he received valuable theological impulses from the thoughts of Rudolf Bultmann , the Marburg New Testament scholar. In 1930 a collaboration began with the Majolika Manufaktur Karlsruhe, which produced Uhrigs based on templates. In 1932 he married Margarete (called "Gretel") Eyth, the great-grandniece of Max Eyth, in the Stuttgart Forest Church . Uhrig did not want to become a member of the NSDAP in 1933 , so he left the academy in Stuttgart. A fruitful phase as a freelance artist and teacher followed.

In 1934 Uhrig created one of his most impressive works of art: a twelve-meter-long and four-meter-high salt relief that Uhrig carved directly into the layer of salt in the 28-meter-high, 180-meter-underground dome of the Bad Friedrichshall salt mine . After the task of the Oberbergrats Dr. Ernst Baur was to create the work as a symbolic "interpretation of the year 1933", that is, the National Socialist "seizure of power". Uhrig's design depicts the fight of a hero inspired by Michael against a dragon in front of a backdrop of people, family and a tree. Work on the relief began on May 10, 1934 and lasted for several weeks, with the work being done every two weeks The "entry Sundays" taking place from May to October 1934 could already be observed by up to 5000 people per day in the making. To this day, the monumental relief is one of the attractions of the visitor mine.

Between 1939 and 1945 he served in the Red Cross in caring for the wounded; in the further course of the Second World War he was chief and field leader for 1,700 men and responsible, among other things, for the hospital trains. In 1944, because he evacuated women and children on his own initiative, he was sentenced by a “party court” and “pardoned” to a hand-to-hand combat force, from which he suffered serious wounds and illnesses.

His troops were involved in heavy fighting. Then a soldier showed him the way. So the artist managed to leave the battlefield and to get to safety. For Uhrig, this experience marked a major turning point in his biography. He was convinced that he had met an angel in the unknown soldier. In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Danish authorities and immediately went back to work for the Red Cross.

What Uhrig had experienced in terms of war, destruction and human suffering had a major influence on his artistic work from then on, as did his experience with the angel. More than 300 of his works of art show angels in which - according to Uhrig - God himself encounters people. But these difficult personal experiences also flow into his work on biblical stories such as the prodigal son , Job or Jonah .

Helmuth Uhrig wanted to strengthen his fellow men in the Christian faith. He trusted the power of symbolism and dealt with questions of contemporary proclamation through art in lectures, discussions and writings.

In 1951 Uhrig joined the Evangelical Michael Brotherhood within the Berneuchen movement and then worked as an art commissioner for the Evangelical Church in Württemberg , and later as a church art advisor in Hesse and the Rhineland. In the post-war period he advised many parishes on the artistic design of newly designed churches.

It is characteristic of his work that he was asked in numerous places for the uniform design of church interiors, across the entire Federal Republic of that time. He was at home in many craft techniques. Helmuth Uhrig's artistic legacy can still be seen today in many Protestant churches, public buildings and squares. His extensive talents enabled him to create total works of art from a single source. In addition to expressive glass windows, Uhrig created pulpits , crucifixes , baptismal fonts, altars , full sculptures, reliefs - be it made of wood, stone, sheet metal (usually copper ), cast (mostly bronze ) -, utensils ( Vasa sacra ) as well as drawings, paintings and also Building sculptures ( art in architecture ). From around 1950, numerous memorials for those who died in the world wars were erected near churches and cemeteries . He himself called them "memorials for the fallen". In some buildings he also created wall and floor mosaics .

In 1960 he moved to Schmitten-Arnoldshain / Taunus, where he lived near the Evang. Akademie Arnoldshain had spacious studio rooms.

Uhrig died on April 8, 1979 in Arnoldshain, the funeral service and burial took place at the forest cemetery in Stuttgart.

Works (selection)

Christ figure from red sandstone created by Helmuth Uhrig for the Friedenskirche in Heidenheim

Uhrig's works are widespread in Germany, Switzerland and France. The focus, however, is on Baden-Württemberg . About 60 percent of his works can be found there. Around 60 churches with a clock design.

• 1926: Gift to the mother: a wooden sculpture (today in the Kirchberg monastery near Sulz am Neckar); Motif: The "Adoration of the Magi"
• 1927: first tombstone (for his father)
• 1930: "Barbara relief" for the Bad Friedrichshall salt mine
• 1934: Salt relief in the domed hall of the Bad Friedrichshall salt mine
• 1934: Balcony relief (retail trade) at the Sparkasse in Wangen im Allgäu
• 1936: Crucifixion group at the Christ Church in Reutlingen
• 1937: Wooden crucifix in the city church of Esslingen am Neckar
• 1938: Pulpit of the Göppingen Oberhofenkirche
• 1955: Relief and altarpiece of the Apostle Johannes Church in Wilhelmshaven (1955)
• 1956: Bell ornament for the "Great Minster Bell" in Ulm Minster ; Motif: "Dragon fight", for the "Gloriosa" an "Archangel Michael" and for the small praying bell "Oranten"
• 1956: Pulpit of the Protestant Resurrection Church in Bad Hersfeld
• 1956: Pulpit and lectern of the Protestant church in Petersberg near Bad Hersfeld
• 1957: Carved door to the wedding room in Stuttgart City Hall; Motif: "The ages"
• 1957: Complete interior fittings (pulpit, altar, baptismal font, bells) of the Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche Ulm, which was given up as a place of worship on July 15, 2007. Most of this equipment is now in the Uhrig collection in the Kirchenberg monastery
• 1957: Complete interior decoration of the Lukaskirche in Ulm
• 1957: Pulpit panels (made from crushed copper sheets) in Dietersweiler-Freudenstadt
• 1957: Relief panels made of Maulbronn sandstone on the altar wall of the Evangelical Church in Hegensberg-Liebersbronn in Esslingen
• 1959: Sandstone Christ sculpture at the Methodist Church (Friedenskirche) Heidenheim
• 1959: Crucifix, pulpit and font in the Christ Church in Sindelfingen
• 1960: painting of the large choir wall in the Pauluskirche Darmstadt
• 1960: Image of Christ between children and snake and baptismal font in the Protestant Luther Church in Fulda
• 1961: Altar, pulpit, baptismal font and glass window in the Protestant Christ Church in Darmstadt-Eberstadt
• 1962: Leaded windows and crucifix for the church in Hemkenrode
• 1962: Pair of pictures feeding the five thousand for the Protestant Luther Church in Fulda
• 1962: Stained glass window "Christ as Judge of the World and Pentecost" for the Protestant Church in Niederjossa
• 1963: artistic, Christmas design of the Quempas book (cover, woodcuts, sheet music)
• 1963: Baptismal font of the Marienkirche in Gelnhausen
• 1959: pulpit u. a. in the forest church of Stuttgart; Pulpit motif: "The birth of Christ"
• 1965: Monument to the fallen in the cemetery in Böblingen
• 1965: Baptismal font in St. Johann in Göttingen (Lower Saxony)
• 1966: Stone mosaic at the main cemetery in Kassel
• 1966: Stained glass window "The homecoming of the prodigal son" for the Protestant church in Unhausen
• 1967: Trumpet angel on the organ front of the Evangelical Christ Church in Fulda
• 1968: Relief "Ascension of Christ" on the Protestant Resurrection Church in Bad Hersfeld

Most of his inheritance has been kept and scientifically looked after in the Kirchberg monastery near Sulz am Neckar since 2000 . A part of it is also permanently exhibited there.

literature

• Gerhard Marcel Martin, Martin Stöhr, Waldemar Wucher: Hellmuth Uhrig - protocol of a life and work. Issue no. 2/1987 in the ARNOLDSHAINER PROTOKOLLE series
• Helmuth Uhrig: Speech drawing. A path to biblical history. Johannes Stauda Verlag, Kassel 1970, ISBN 3-7982-0004-1 .
• Walter Sack: Helmuth Uhrig Catalog of Works - newly compiled from the ARNOLDSHEIN PROTOCOLS 2/87. Fellbach 2004.
• Ingrid Helber (Ed.): Helmuth Uhrig 1906–1979. A Christian artist from Württemberg. Geiger Verlag, Horb 2006, ISBN 3-86595-106-6 .

Web links

Commons : Helmuth Uhrig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Page with works by Helmuth Uhrig in Heinsberg
• Uhrig art collection . Kirchberg Monastery near Sulz am Neckar
• Literature by and about Helmuth Uhrig in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Brune (Ed.): Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon . tape 1 . Brune Mettcker, Wilhelmshaven 1986, ISBN 978-3-930510-00-9 , pp. 47 .