Josef Gasser (sculptor)
Josef Gasser (also Joseph Gasser , knight of Valhorn from 1879 ; born November 22, 1816 in Wallhorn (Valhorn), municipality of Prägraten , East Tyrol ; † October 28, 1900 in Prägraten) was an Austrian sculptor .
Life
Josef Gasser was a brother of Hanns Gasser . He was first taught by his father, a master carpenter, and showed great skill in sculpting statuettes .
Since 1837 he trained as a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts under the masters Johann Nepomuk Schaller , Joseph Klieber and Joseph Käßmann . He made his successful debut in 1844 with a statuette of Leopold the Glorious , which earned him a scholarship to stay in Rome , where he studied nature and antiquity from 1845 to 1849 and created a group, Venus and Cupid. For health reasons, he lived in South Tyrol and only moved to Vienna in 1852. He was ailing and suffering from depression all his life . When he returned there, he made the five statues of the Blessed Virgin , the Archangel Michael , Saint Stephen , John the Baptist and Bernhard von Clairvaux for the portal of the Speyer Cathedral , which were widely recognized.
After making busts of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and his wife, he received numerous commissions. His works include the life-size portrait statues of Emperor Maximilian I , Frederick the Warrior and Leopold von Habsburg for the general hall of the "kuk Hofwaffenmuseum" ( kuk Hofwaffenmuseum ), which was completed in 1856 (today the Museum of Military History ), which he made until 1870.
Subsequently, Gasser received orders for six statues each for the palaces of Archdukes Wilhelm and Ludwig Viktor , the marble statues of the seven liberal arts in the stairwell of the Neue Oper, the statue of Duke Rudolf IV for the Elisabeth Bridge on today's Karlsplatz , many busts and several statues of the Madonna and church sculptures for St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, the Cathedral of the Conception of Mary in Linz and the Parish Church of Altlerchenfeld . For the Votive Church in Vienna he created the coronation of Mary on the main gable, the Trinity group , the Redeemer statue and large bas-reliefs in the arched fields of the three portals of the main facade. His best-known work in Vienna today is probably the cover plate created in 1862 for the marble sarcophagus of St. Clement Maria Hofbauer in the Maria am Gestade church . The plate designed as a reclining figure with a depiction of the saint on the death bed stands upright on the wall of the Klemenskapelle today.
He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1865 to 1873, where Victor Tilgner was his most famous student.
After completion of the work for the Votive Church, he was in the 1879 knighthood raised. At this time, his success decreased noticeably, as his style was no longer contemporary. As a result, he suffered increasing hardship and was saved from misery by a pension from the City of Vienna. From 1896 he lived in seclusion in his place of birth and died impoverished and almost forgotten on October 28, 1900 in Prägraten.
His mode of representation is characterized by the behavior of the figure, with technically careful surface treatment and style elements that aim at decorative ideality.
Works (selection)
- Statue of Duke Friedrich II the Arguable , white Carrara marble , 1870, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum , Vienna
- Statue of Duke Leopold I the Glorious , white Carrara marble, 1870, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna
- Statue of Emperor Maximilian I , white Carrara marble, 1870, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna
- Portrait bust of Emperor Maximilian I , 1870, plaster, 59 × 28 × 35 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna
- Bronze statuettes, crucifix and a bas-relief of the risen Christ on the tabernacle, 1859, Chapel of the Austrian Hospice for the Holy Family , Jerusalem
literature
- Jacqueline Thommes: Josef Gasser Ritter von Valhorn 1916–1900 , Diss. Vienna 1993.
- Ilse Krumpöck: The sculptures in the Army History Museum , Vienna 2004, p. 50 f.
- Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5
- General artist lexicon . Volume 50, 2006, p. 56
- Gasser-Walhorn Josef von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 407.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brockhaus 1911
- ↑ Ilse Krumpöck: Die Bildwerke im Heeresgeschichtliches Museum , Vienna 2004, p. 50 f.
- ^ Propsteipfarramt Votivkirche (ed.): Votivkirche in Wien (church leader) . Kunstverlag Hofstetter, Ried im Innkreis 1990
- ^ Karl von Lützow : The interior of the Votive Church in Vienna . In: Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst , fourteenth volume, Leipzig 1879, p. 176ff
- ^ Works by Josef Gasser Ritter von Valhorn 1816 - 1900. Accessed on July 21, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gasser, Josef |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gasser, Joseph; Gasser Ritter von Valhorn, Josef; Gasser-Walhorn, Josef von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 22, 1816 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Embossing |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 8, 1900 |
| Place of death | Embossing |