Josef Obeth

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Josef Obeth

Josef Obeth (born July 15, 1874 in Theresienfeld , Austrian Silesia , † June 18, 1961 in Säckingen ) was a Czechoslovak or German sculptor and restorer .

Life

Obeth was born in Theresienfeld as the son of the quarry foreman and housekeeper Franz Obeth. His father worked as a manager of the Groß Kunzendorfer marble quarry of Josef Schindler . From 1887 Josef Obeth attended the state school for stone processing in Saubsdorf . During this time he drew attention to himself through his talent for drawing and design, so that Schindler planned to finance him to study in Rome. Due to Schindler's death, however, this was no longer carried out. Obeth then initially worked as a stonemason in Saubsdorf and continued his training at the trade school in Vienna in 1891 . The following year he became a student of Edmund von Hellmer and Caspar von Zumbusch at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna . During his studies, he first worked together with Adolf von Hildebrand . Obeth graduated in 1897 and then worked in Vienna.

In 1898 Obeth received an order from the Ministry for Cultus and Education for the sculptural design of the grammar school church of St. Franz von Assisi in Weidenau , which he realized together with Engelbert Kaps until 1902 under the direction of Caspar von Zumbusch . On the occasion of Vinzenz Prießnitz's 100th birthday , the city of Freiwaldau intended to honor the famous hydrotherapist with a memorial in 1899. In addition to Obeth, whose family was connected to Prießnitz's successor Schindler, the Freiwaldau sculptor Paul Stadler also submitted designs for the memorial. Obeth finally won the bid; he gained national recognition through the Prießnitz monument erected between 1904 and 1909. His sculpture workshop, founded in 1908 together with the entrepreneur J. Klos in Groß Krosse , subsequently received private and public commissions in Silesia as well as in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria. As a restorer, Obeth worked on the Marian column in Mährisch Neustadt and the baroque sculptures of the Kuks Hospital . After the First World War, he also created 31 memorials to the fallen, of which 23 are still preserved.

In 1945 Obeth and his wife Anna were from Great Krusty sold . In Neunkirchen near Leutershausen he then tried a new start in his career. Because of the difficult order situation, the conservator Edmund Wilhelm Braun got him a job as a sculpture restorer at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum . In 1953 Obeth moved to his daughter in Säckingen and opened a sculpture workshop there. His last work was a high relief at the trade school in Rheinfelden , with which the Säckingen district administrator Otto Bischof himself set a monument in 1960 . Josef Obeth died in 1961 after a short illness; his grave is in the forest cemetery.

Works (selection)

Obeth's work, which was strongly influenced by his teachers Hellmer and von Zumbusch, includes numerous monumental sculptures.

  • Monument to Philo vom Walde in Głubczyce

  • Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Opava

  • Marian column in Žulová

  • Brána smrti in Boskovice

  • Relief portrait of Wilhelm von Humboldt at Otmuchów Castle

  • Grand Master's grave in Bruntál

  • Memorial plaque for Adolf Lorenz in Vidnava

literature

  • Bohumila Tinzová; Marian Čep: Sochař Josef Obeth: 1874–1961; život a dílo , Veduta, Štíty, 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Bischoff in DER SPIEGEL 4/1960
personal data
SURNAME Obeth, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Theresienfeld
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1961
Place of death Säckingen