Jakob Riffeler
Jakob Riffeler (born September 5, 1920 in Efferen , † July 18, 2003 in Köttingen (Erftstadt) ) was a German metal sculptor who achieved a high level of popularity with his works, especially in the Rhenish region and northern Germany.
Life
Youth and education
Jakob Riffeler spent his childhood and youth in Köttingen, where his parents had moved in 1921. After attending primary school, he did an apprenticeship as a mechanical fitter at Rheinbraun . His further training took place at the Westdeutsche Maschinenfabrik in Liblar . During the Second World War he was obliged to build submarines . From 1947 to 1951 he studied at the Cologne factory schools in the metal sculpture class under Joseph Jaekel , where he was able to further develop his artistic skills. Then he worked as a freelance metal sculptor. Even after his marriage, Riffeler stayed with his family in his home town of Köttingen.
Artistic activity
The subjects of his work came mostly from the religious, predominantly from the biblical area and were carried out as commissioned work for churches, but he also took on work for secular buildings , for which he also chose religious topics if possible. It was important for him that the client gave him the artistic freedom of design.
Activity in the Cologne area
His first major work (1952) was a sculpture made of copper for the then Catholic Raphael elementary school in Brüggen , depicting Tobias with the Archangel Raphael . It was placed on the wall above the entrance to the school.
Another early work was a brass tabernacle (1953) in the parish church of St. Barbara in Oberliblar . The obverse shows a section from the Last Supper . Jesus gives bread to John, who leans his head on his Lord's shoulder. Above it are the words: HIC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM. On both sides there are depictions of Christian symbols , grapes and ears of wheat, on the sides the pelican , which according to popular belief feeds its young with its blood, and the phoenix rising from the ashes .
One of his early works (1953) was the baptismal font cover of the Church of St. Barbara in Oberliblar. Three fish are highlighted on the copper-blown lid of the baptismal font. A crystal knob, from which a dove flies up, forms the end.
In 1963 he was commissioned to design a baptismal font lid for the Catholic Church of John the Baptist in Wichterich . The lid was made of silver, on which he placed an ornament of four displaced triangular stars. In the twelve endpoints of the triangles, he added rock crystals set in silver. The eye-catcher on the apex of the lid is a dove chased in silver as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and a reference to the act of baptism .
He designed a wall cross for the Catholic elementary school in Zülpich (1953). The wooden beams are covered on the front with a brass plate, on top of which there is a brass corpus depicting Christ as the risen one. The cross is now in the Theodor Heuss School in Lechenich .
The wall mosaic created in 1958 in the new primary school building in Bliesheim is also a work by Jakob Riffeler. The collage of colored tiles on the brick wall in the school stairwell shows St. Francis preaching to animals.
Riffeler designed another ceramic mosaic of St. Michael slaying the dragon in 1959 as a war memorial for the vestibule of the St. Martinus church in Kierdorf .
The sculpture "Two Herons" from 1962 was intended for a small water basin in the school yard of the newly built Adolf Kolping School in Lechenich. The herons are similar to those on the mosaic "Francis preaches to the animals" made a few years earlier in the stairwell of the primary school in Bliesheim.
The wooden portals of the Church of St. Michael in Blessem were given a copper cladding by Riffeler in 1967. The figurative representations of the saints under the enthroned Christ refer to the church history of Blessem: to the affiliation to Lechenich and Heddinghoven as well as to Frauenthal , and Michael on today's parish patron.
In 1975 Riffeler added medallions depicting the history of Berrenrath to the doors of St. Wendelinus covered with copper sheet in a diamond relief .
Today's main entrance to St. Josef in Köttingen is also a work by Riffeler (1977). The two doors are covered with ornamental copper plates. Above and below there are reliefs delimited by ornaments on both partial doors, which refer to the history of Köttingen. The door handle depicts the Good Shepherd who grazes his sheep.
When the portals of the St. Lambertus Church in Bliesheim were redesigned in 1972, the main portal was given a copper-embossed fitting with a diamond ornament, and the side doors had transverse hinges with this ornament in the middle of the door.
Portal of the parish church St. Michael in Blessem (visible in the enlargement)
Portal of the parish church of St. Wendelinus in Berrenrath, detail
Door handle of the St. Josef portal in Köttingen
Side door of the St. Lambertus Church with ornamental band
Working for churches in Northern Germany
Riffeler became known far beyond Erftstadt through his work in northern Germany. On the island of Wangerooge , he created a hanging cross for the parish church of St. Willehad and a baptismal font embossed in silver, which depicts the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan and the baptism of the Frisians by St. Willehad.
For the church of St. Pius in Bremen-Huchting he made the church portal, a tabernacle and a hanging cross on which he went back to the old form of the Majestas Domini : the crucified as ruler, as Kyrios . The four evangelist symbols are shown at the four ends of the crossbars .
The portal of the Holy Spirit Church in Stade is also a work by Riffeler.
Another religious work of art by Riffeler is a crucifix for the Catholic Church in Delmenhorst near Bremen: a life-size crucifix hangs above the altar . The cross bars are made of square steel tubing, the body is made of brass.
Other works (selection)
Numerous candlesticks, crosses, chalices, monstrances and steeple cocks like
- Barbara statue for the elementary school in Kierdorf
- Tabernacle in St. Josef Köttingen, in St. Johann Baptist Kendenich , in St. Bartholomäus Mützenich
- Monstrance in St. Barbara Oberliblar
- Cross in St. Josef Köttingen
- Baptismal font cover in the Protestant church of Weilerswist , in the church of St. Maximin in Antweiler , in St. Bartholomäus Mützenich
- Portal of St. Ulrich in Buschbell
End of life
Riffeler remained arrested in his home town of Köttingen and lived there until the end of his life, where he died in 2003.
literature
- Josef Mones: A metal sculptor in our circle . In: Local calendar of the Euskirchen district 1954.
- Josef Terfurth: Jakob Riffeler- A creator of modern religious works of art . In: Local calendar of the Euskirchen district in 1967.
- Horst Komuth: Jakob Riffeler, an artist portrait . In: Yearbook of the city of Erftstadt 1996.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Joseph Terfurth: Jakob Riffeler - A creator of modern religious art. In: Heimatkalender Kreis Euskirchen 1967, pp. 51–56
- ↑ Josef Mones: A metal sculptor in our circle. In: Heimatkalender Kreis Euskirchen 1954. P. 102-106
- ↑ Illustration in: Heimatkalender Kreis Euskirchen 1966. P. 185
- ^ Albert Esser: 40 years of St. Michael Blessem-Frauenthal. Blessem 2001
- ↑ Helmut Fußbroich: St. Wendelin in Huerth-Berrenrath. 1995. Rheinische Kunststätten issue 410. ISBN 3-88094-781-3
- ↑ Heinz Josef Glumski in: St. Josef Köttingen, Pfarrbrief 2010 pp. 17-18
- ^ Frank Bartsch: St. Lambertus in Erftstadt - Bliesheim. 2003. Rheinische Kunststätten issue 477. ISBN 3-88094-908-5
- ^ Artists' forum “Schaufenster” Erftstadt: information from the compilation on the occasion of the exhibition for Jakob Riffeler's birthday in the parish center of St. Kilian Lechenich in September 1985
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riffeler, Jakob |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German metal sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th September 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Effers |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 18, 2003 |
| Place of death | Köttingen (Erftstadt) |