Hubert Nietsch

Hubert Nietsch (born August 12, 1893 in Flensburg , † September 19, 1965 in Gelsenkirchen ) was a German sculptor and member of the Halfmannshof artists' settlement in Gelsenkirchen.

Life

education

Hubert Nietsch attended the arts and crafts school in Flensburg. In 1912 he passed his journeyman's examination as a wood sculptor. He spent his journeyman years in Sweden, interrupted by the First World War . Between 1919 and 1921 Nietsch lived in Denmark, Kiel and Hamburg. From 1921 he worked in the workshop of the architect Prof. Metzendorf in Essen. In 1925 he passed his master's examination as a wood sculptor in Flensburg and began studying building ceramics at the Berlin Art Academy. In 1926 he became a master student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy (Prof. Langer). From 1928 he was self-employed in Essen.

1930s and Third Reich

In 1931 Nietsch was one of the founders of the Halfmannshof artists' settlement in Ückendorf , where he lived and worked until his death.

During the Third Reich , Nietsch, like other Halfmannshof artists, accepted orders from Nazi propaganda . He created oversized figures with pathetic gestures corresponding to contemporary tastes, some of which were exhibited in Gelsenkirchen. From 1935 onwards, Nietsch was the city's cultural advisory board and thus directly involved in the implementation of Nazi cultural policy in Gelsenkirchen.

post war period

In the 1950s, Nietsch established himself as a creator of friendly, pleasing figures and objects. His works were popular with the city of Gelsenkirchen as gifts of honor on various occasions, as were his figures with children, e.g. B. the donkey in Gelsenkirchen city garden as well as "The laughing" at the Landschulheim Lieberhausen .

Hubert Nietsch died in Gelsenkirchen on September 19, 1965.

plant

Hubert Nietsch worked as a sculptor in stone and bronze, as an ivory and wood carver, as a ceramicist and painter. He was never an artist of the avant-garde, but always endeavored to traditional craftsmanship and a solid design basis, which, like the other Halfmannshof artists, was an advantage for him during the Third Reich.

Works from the time of National Socialism

During the Third Reich, Nietsch designed figures that corresponded to the heroic pathos of the National Socialists. In 1937 he created a two-meter-tall kneeling archer at the ready, which was intended for the hunter barracks in Arnsberg .

For the barracks in Bielefeld he created three large ceramic busts, each weighing around two hundred pounds, depicting a worker with a hammer, a farmer with an ear of wheat and a soldier with a helmet and uniform.

Post-war works

Sculpture "Pigeon father, who waits for his pigeons" (1950) in Gelsenkirchen

Stylistically still somewhat similar to the Aryan busts, two wall reliefs were created in 1952 for the IG Metall building on Augustastraße in Gelsenkirchen. The left panel again shows the worker type with a large hammer and this time an oak leaf in hand. The right panel is the recreational counterpart. The workers lift the cup and a cat peeks out from between their legs. In its friendly, naive portrayal, this cat already refers to other depictions of animals that should follow in the next 10 years.

In 1954 Nietsch received an order from the city of Gelsenkirchen to design a relief frieze for the town hall in Gelsenkirchen-Buer , which was completed in 1958. This frieze consists of three bronze panels with the titles "Book, Theater and Music", "Family" and "Agriculture and Mining".

In 1957 the most famous Nietsch figure was erected in Gelsenkirchen: the cast iron city garden donkey. Possibly inspired by the figure of the "Donkey Grisella" by Halfmannshöfer puppeteer Heinrich Maria Denneborg , this figure became an integral part of Gelsenkirchen's childhood and a popular photo motif. The donkey was stolen in the 1990s.

Sculpture "Bergmann und Ziege" (1960) in Herne

In 1960 he created a life-size two-part group of figures miner and goat for a new green belt in the city of Herne , the Hölkeskampring , and in 1963 for the 10th anniversary on June 17, 1953, a relief that was indivisible despite the wall at the Herner town hall gate. These works are preserved at their locations.

Another well-known figure by Nietsch is "Der Lachende", a spherical stone head with gently rounded facial features and a wide, laughing mouth. Nietsch developed this form from a "stone and ball game" and caused a sensation with its relatively modern form compared to his other works. The laughing man found his place on the grounds of the Lieberhausen Landschulheim, where he is still today.

Nietsch's last important work is "The Man in the Storm", which, in contrast to most other works from the post-war period, has a rather broken mood. The figure from 1962, which today stands in front of the town hall in Gelsenkirchen-Buer, shows the gloomy figure of a man who seems to be bracing himself against a strong wind.

Web links

• More detailed article in the Wiki of Gelsenkirchen Stories

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.huen-un-perduen.de
2. ↑ 100 objects Herne at www.halloherne.de ( Memento of the original from February 21, 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.