Jeremias Christensen

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Jeremias Christensen (born March 26, 1859 in Tingleff , North Schleswig , † May 14, 1908 in Charlottenburg near Berlin ) was a German-Danish sculptor and medalist .

Life

Jeremias Christensen was handicapped and the limbs on the right side of his body were stunted. At the age of 18 he went to Christian Carl Magnussen's carving school in Schleswig , where he completed a three-year apprenticeship and, despite his disability, caused a stir in modeling and carving. From 1883 he attended the Art Academy in Copenhagen , where he modeled several reliefs under the influence of the works of Bertel Thorvaldsen . In the competition for the great gold medal of the art academy, Christensen did not emerge as the winner, but a donation from the Danish king and the funds from a special fund of the academy enabled him to spend three years in Rome in 1887 . Here he freed himself from the influence of Thorvaldsen and modeled his first free plastic figure The Boy from the Mountain , which was widely used as a small sculpture. In 1890 he returned to Copenhagen and again took part in the competition for the great gold medal. This time, too, he came away empty-handed, but a further scholarship brought him a trip to Berlin in 1891 . The stay in the imperial capital meant the turning point of his life for him, he settled in Berlin, which was badly resented in Copenhagen. Christensen became an employee of Harro Magnussen , the son of his Schleswig teacher. The collaboration led to a break after Magnussen had sold the statue The Philosopher von Sanssouci to the German Emperor in 1899 for the death room of Frederick the Great . Christensen announced his claims as co-creator and forced Magnussen to make a half-concession. The case kept the press busy. In 1894 he took part in a competition for the sculpture of a Die Spree or Sprea , which was to be installed in the vestibule of the magistrate's meeting room in the Red City Hall in Berlin. Christensen emerged as the winner in the competition in which 109 artists took part.

Sprea in the Tierpark Berlin

Together with a multitude of other works of art such as statues of rulers, battle paintings, heroic wall and ceiling portraits, the Sprea was part of the attempt to turn the town hall into a hall of fame , after the victory over France in the 19th century, the unification of the empire in 1871 and the increase in it The importance of Berlin as the capital of creating something unique. The town hall was almost completely destroyed at the end of the Second World War . When it was rebuilt after 1950, the works of art that had been preserved were not put up again, but either stored in museum archives or rebuilt in other locations. The Sprea - an idealized female figure with a wreath in her hair, who gives a bear sitting next to her in the reeds to drink a mussel filled with water - was given a new place in the Friedrichsfelde Palace Park, which has just been transformed into a zoo . The figure can be found somewhat hidden between the Lenné hill and the guanaco meadow.

In 1898 Christensen won again in a competition for a monument to Duke Friedrich VIII of Augustenburg in Düsternbrook Park in Kiel . Alfred Lichtwark , the director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, wrote during a visit to Kiel in 1902: “I don't know of any nicer installation of a modern monument.” The monument was destroyed in the Second World War. Christensen was one of the founding members of the Berlin Secession in 1898 . In 1905 he married a daughter of the Rittmeister von Hülsen from the Prussian nobility.

Works

  • Depiction of Martje Flohrs, around 1880, relief, wood. Local history museum St. Peter Ording
  • Entombment of Christ, 1882, relief, wood, gilded. Diakonissenanstalt Flensburg
  • Joseph interprets the cupbearer's dreams in prison, 1885, relief, plaster of paris. Tingleff Church / Denmark
  • Mary anoints Christ's feet, 1885, relief, plaster of paris. Diakonissenanstalt Flensburg
  • The Boy from the Mountains, around 1888, formerly Stadtpark Köslin / Pomerania
  • Sprea, 1897 marble. Berlin-Friedrichsfelde Zoo
  • Monument to Duke Friedrich VIII, unveiled July 20, 1900, formerly Kiel
  • Female nude with ball, small sculpture, bronze, Museumsberg Flensburg

literature

  • Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer: The sculptor Jeremias Christensen from Tingleff. In: Grenzfriedenshefte Heft 1/2014, pp. 5–21. ( Online, PDF )
  • Mario Perschke: The "Sprea" by Jeremias Christensen. In: Mitteilungen des Verein für die Geschichte Berlins, Vol. 93, 1997, pp. 172–178.
  • Ekkehart Schörle: Harro Magnussen - A sculptor at the turn of the century between adaptation and obstinacy. In: Nordelbingen Vol. 71, 2002, pp. 75-110.
  • Kunsthalle zu Kiel, new acquisitions 1986–1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeremias Christensen. Artist. German Society for Medal Art, accessed on October 31, 2015 .
  2. ^ L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Christensen, Jeremias. Volume VII. Spink & Son Ltd, London 1923, pp. 181 .
  3. ↑ W. extinguishing Castle: The Spree goddess resides in the zoo. Article from around 1980 from the Berliner Zeitung (date not noted)
personal data
SURNAME Christensen, Jeremias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Danish sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Tingleff , North Schleswig
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1908
Place of death Charlottenburg near Berlin