Jörn Pfab

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Jörn Pfab (born March 6, 1925 in Hamburg ; † September 14, 1986 there ) was a North German sculptor who used bronze , stone, stainless steel and plastic for his work .

Portrait of Jörn Pfab (1969)

Youth and education

Jörn Pfab was born in Hamburg, where he finished high school in 1941. From 1941 to 1944 he completed an apprenticeship as a stonemason, which he completed with a journeyman's examination. From 1944 to 1946 there followed military service and American captivity, from which he fled in 1946. From 1946 to 1952 he studied sculpture with Edwin Scharff at the Landeskunstschule Hamburg . There he set up a bronze casting workshop together with his college friend Fritz Fleer . His early work includes figural statuettes and portraits.

life and work

In 1952 Pfab moved into his own studio in Hamburg. His work was initially characterized by representational work. By the Hamburg Lichtwark funded scholarship he to the parallel Oskar Kokoschka conferred Lichtwark Prize was awarded, in 1952, he traveled to Greece and after the early death of his first wife between 1959 and 1961 Spain and Morocco. During the trip, under the impression of the bright, southern sky, he decided to use a material that reflects the light of the sky - stainless steel. When he returned to Hamburg in 1961, he therefore completed a two-month welding course and moved into a new studio in Wedel / Holstein not far from Ernst Barlach's birthplace. He turned to steel sculpture, although his works were initially characterized by abstract plant motifs, but became increasingly stereometric . During the years from 1962 to 1985 numerous large sculptures made of stainless steel were created, especially for Hamburg's public space . After a heart attack in 1965, Pfab occasionally used plastic as a material.

  • Large standing woman (1957/1958), bronze. Alsterpark, Hamburg-Rotherbaum

  • Flor Urbana (1976), chrome-nickel-molybdenum steel, 4 m high. Fleetinsel, Hamburg

  • Ball space ascending (1979), nickel-chromium-molybdenum steel, welded. Hans-Heinemann-Park, Rendsburg

  • Quadrolog (1980/1981), Corten steel, chrome-nickel-molybdenum steel. Gottorf Castle Sculpture Park

His graphic work mainly includes sheets of smaller format. a trip to Morocco in 1960 inspired his drawings and new artistic ideas. His graphic works from 1961–1978 contain etchings, which were followed by the embossed prints he developed in 1970–1973. Pfab also designed some furniture and utility objects. An armchair designed by him was manufactured by the Garpa company in an unlimited series.

Anonymous urn grove at the Riedemann mausoleum,
with the gate designed by Klaus Bösselmann

In 1966 and 1984/85 he made some portraits and statuettes using welding technology. Since 1978 he has participated annually in exhibitions by Japanese and German sculptors in Tokyo. In 1982 he traveled to Japan. Shortly before his death he founded the “Society for Unique Metal Sculptures”.

Pfab died as a result of inhaling the dust created while polishing his work. He was buried in the Hamburg cemetery Ohlsdorf , grid square AD 10 ( anonymous urn grove in front of the Riedemann mausoleum across from Chapel 8). His legacy was taken over by his second wife, Dr. Fotini Pfab (1923–2011) preserved and administered with great care.

Awards

  • 1952: Lichtwark grant, Hamburg
  • 1954: ars viva
  • 1956: Scholarship from the Kulturkreis des Bund der deutschen Industrie
  • 1971: Edwin Scharff Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
  • 1976: State Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg for a game of chess
  • 1977: Member of the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg

Museums in which his work is represented

Selected literature

  • Heinz Spielmann , Jörn Pfab. Journey to Morocco in 1960. Catalog for an exhibition Dec. 10, 2013 - Jan. 17, 2014 in Kiel, Hamburg 2013
  • Heinz Spielmann , sculptor in Hamburg 1900–1972, exhibition catalog Hamburg 1972
  • Jörn Pfab, sculpture embossed prints, exhibition catalog for the awarding of the Edwin Scharff Prize 1971, Hamburg 1973
  • Jörn Pfab (1925–1986) Das Lebenswerk, catalog raisonné of sculptures, objects and prints, edited by Thomas Gädeke in collaboration with Fotini Pfab, Wachholtz Verlag, Schleswig 1989
  • Heinz Spielmann, Reiner Wiehl , Thomas Gädeke, speeches at the opening of the exhibition "Jörn Pfab, the life's work" in the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig on November 20, 1988, Hamburg 1989.
  • Jörn Pfab (1925–1986) The graphic work, oeuvre catalog of hand drawings, edited by Fotini Pfab with the assistance of Peter Schlicht, published by the Society for Unique Metal Sculptures. Hamburg undated (1996)
  • Thomas Gädeke (ed.), Jörn Pfab. Figure in space, with contributions by Daria Dittmeyer, Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation, Gottorf Castle, Schleswig 2012

Web links

Commons : Jörn Pfab  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.boesselmann.de/ategorie-kunden.php?ategorie=Brennschneidtechnik&katnr=1
  2. ↑ Celebrity grave sites
  3. ↑ Ars Viva
personal data
SURNAME Pfab, Jörn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1986
Place of death Hamburg