Karl Mertens (sculptor)

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Karl Mertens (born March 17, 1903 in Rathenow ; † September 24, 1988 there ) was a German sculptor .

Live and act

The sculpture seven meters in front of the sports hall at Gate II in Premnitz
The plastic Konerin in the center of Premnitz

Ernst Albert Karl Mertens was the son of the cook Gustav Otto Mertens, who died in 1909, and the handworker Ida Anna Emma Mertens, née Kuhtz. After eight years of schooling, he learned the profession of precision mechanic , technical draftsman and adjustment in the optics industry at Emil Busch AG . At the age of 19 he began to study art in Munich , which he had to break off after two years of study, as well as a subsequent evening course for economic reasons. Mertens' mentor was the painter and sculptor Willy Lippert , whom he described as his teacher and friend. In 1924 Karl Mertens took part for the first time in an exhibition of Rathenow artists. Exhibits were his two wooden sculptures Don Quixote with his horse Rosinante and Sancho Panza with Rosinante .

During the Second World War , Mertens was drafted into the Volkssturm a few months before the end of the war and seriously wounded on the Eastern Front on February 1, 1945. After the end of the war he returned to his hometown Rathenow, where he worked as a freelance sculptor . As a result, Karl Mertens completed his art studies at the University of Applied Arts, which later became the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art . One of the teachers there was Heinrich Drake . As early as 1946, Mertens became a member of the Kulturbund for the Democratic Renewal of Germany , the later Kulturbund of the GDR, and rose to its board. There he headed the plastic circle for fifteen years. In addition to his activities in the Kulturbund, he worked for over twenty years in the studio of the man-made fiber factory in Premnitz near Rathenow. He often signed letters to the public with “your old town child” or “your old town child of our dear town Rathenow”. He lived and worked in his house and on the property he had purchased in Rathenow until his death on September 24, 1988. He is buried at the side of his wife in the vineyard cemetery in Rathenow.

family

Karl Mertens was married to Elise Mertens, née Pankow († 1959), since 1929. The couple had four children, Klaus, Kurt, Lieselotte and Steffen. The daughter Lieselotte "Lilo" Mertens (* 1935) worked as a poster painter and advertising designer in Berlin, the son Steffen Mertens (* 1943) lives as a sculptor and draftsman in Cottbus.

Awards

Works

Karl Mertens created over a hundred figures, monuments, reliefs and other art objects for cities and communities (Rathenow, Premnitz , Brandenburg an der Havel , Berlin , Hennigsdorf , Großwudicke , Friesack ) as well as for private clients. In the summer of 1980 an exhibition of his sculptures took place in the exhibition pavilion on the Friendship Island in Potsdam . On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Galerie Mertens showed some of his original works as well as plaster designs as well as numerous drawings and photos of his work in a remodeled room of his former studio in Rathenow in 2003 as part of a memorial exhibition. For the Federal Garden Show in 2015 an exhibition of works by Karl Mertens took place. There was also an art trail, in the course of which his publicly accessible works of art were included.

literature

  • Karl Mertens: From my life. In: Rathenower Heimatkalender 1958, pp. 30–33.
  • Erika Guthjahr: Karl Mertens on his 80th birthday. In: Rathenower Heimatkalender 1983, pp. 90–93.
  • Benno Rentmeister: Obituary for Karl Mertens. In: Rathenower Heimatkalender 1989, p. 85.
  • Martin Sommerfeld: Karl Mertens (1903–1988) and his artistic life's work . In: Rathenower Heimatkalender 2014, pp. 78–87.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Actually Willi Otto Lippert, cf. his biography on the website of the city of Rathenow.
  2. ↑ On his activities during this time cf. Two artists in the synthetic fiber factory. Interrelationships between visual art and production , in: Neues Deutschland from August 22, 1963, p. 4, and Lively Dialogue between Production and Art. Artists among workers - creative cultural life in the man-made fiber factory "Friedrich Engels" in Premnitz in: Neue Zeit from May 1st, 1964.
  3. ^ Karl Mertens (1903–1988) . Accessed February 19, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b Karl Mertens - Memorial exhibition for the 100th birthday . Accessed February 19, 2015.
  5. ^ Biography of Karl Mertens . Accessed February 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ See her biography on the Mertens gallery.
  7. ↑ See the autobiography on his homepage .
  8. ↑ Märkische Allgemeine from January 21, 2011.
  9. ↑ See list of honorary citizens on the website of the city of Rathenow or in Wikipedia .
  10. ^ Märkische Allgemeine of April 26, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Mertens, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Rathenow
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1988
Place of death Rathenow