Karl Romeis

Karl Romeis (born March 1, 1895 in Munich ; † June 15, 1960 there ) was a German sculptor .

life and work

Romeis was born as the son of the architect Leonhard Romeis (1854–1904, main work: Catholic parish church St. Benno Munich ), who has been a full professor at the Royal School of Applied Arts in Munich since 1886 . He attended secondary schools in Wasserburg am Inn and Munich. He took part in World War I as a volunteer . He was first used as an artilleryman , later as an aviator and squadron officer. He was badly wounded in an aerial battle . This wound resulted in permanent hearing loss in one ear.

Early work

After the end of the war, he continued his studies at the Munich School of Applied Arts with Hans Schwegerle and Heinrich Waderé , which he had already started during his high school days . In Schwegerle's class he also met his future wife Maria Laura Johanna Theodolinde von Bomhard (born May 4, 1898 in Munich; ⚭ 1923; † November 1, 2002 ibid), who was a granddaughter of the administrative lawyer Ludwig von Bürkel and a great- Granddaughter of the genre painter Heinrich Bürkel was. From 1921 to 1928 he studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, first with Balthasar Schmitt and later with Hermann Hahn , who had a decisive influence on him.

His first works, such as the female head “Malayin” (1920), still show an indecision between idealism and realism . The portrait bust of Mia Orff, the sister of the composer Carl Orff , was created in 1920/21 . The terracotta bust is now in the municipal gallery in the Lenbachhaus . It was bought in 1962 by the artist's brother, who advanced the money for the plaster cast in the 1920s and received a cast in return.

Work at the time of World War II

Right at the beginning of World War II , Romeis was drafted as a reserve officer for military service in Luftgau VII in France. From 1940 to August 1944 he worked as a cartographer on the staff of General Field Marshal of the Air Force Hugo Sperrle . Sperrle was on friendly terms with Romeis. Romeis created a portrait of the General Field Marshal in bronze in 1939. Sperrle also arranges an order for Romeis for Hermann Göring . Romeis was asked to make a copy of the monumental Joan of Arc figure in Reims Cathedral . At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the English.

Late work

War memorial in Feldafing

After his release from captivity, he returned to his undestroyed studio at Ismaninger Strasse 76 in Munich. As early as April 1946, he received a temporary work permit. He mainly works for private clients and kept himself afloat with other small decorative works. In 1953 he received the order for the war memorial in Feldafing on Lake Starnberg , which he designed as a wounded Bavarian bronze lion . His last major commission, the Stations of the Cross for the Catholic parish church of St. Augustine in Hameln , he received in 1958. However, in early 1960 his health deteriorated rapidly, so that he could only complete seven of the planned fourteen stations himself. He died of a heart attack in Munich on June 18. He is buried in the Bogenhausen cemetery .

Works

Romeis worked in wood and stone. A selection of his works:

• A veterans association commissioned Romeis to create a stone sculpture of Saint Barbara of Nicomedia , who is also the patron saint of artillery, in honor of the fallen comrades of the Royal Bavarian 6th Infantry Regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm, King of Prussia" . The figure was placed on the south side of the former St. Stephan cemetery chapel of the Old Southern Cemetery in Munich and was ceremoniously unveiled on May 22, 1932.
• A bust of Johann Michael Sailer created by Romeis in 1933 was first placed in the atrium of the University of Munich and ceremoniously unveiled on June 14, 1933. It has been located in the seminar for Bavarian Church History of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Munich since 1996.

literature

• Hermann Nasse: The sculptor Karl Romeis , in: The Christian art. Monthly for all areas of Christian art and art history , vol. 27, 1930/31, pp. 182–185.
• Karl Busch : Karl Romeis, a master of the portrait , in: The art for everyone - painting, sculpture, graphics, architecture, 58th vol., H. 7, April 1942, pp. 151–154.
• Erich Pfeiffer-Belli: The sculptor Karl Romeis , in: Hochland. Monthly for all areas of knowledge, literature and art, Vol. 53, 1960/61, p. 389.
• Bettina Bauer-Spandl: The Munich sculptor Karl Romeis, 1895–1960 . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 1998.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Manfred Heim: The bust of Johann Michael Sailer (1751-1832) in the atrium of the University of Munich and its unveiling on June 14, 1933 , in: Journal for Bavarian State History Vol. 66, No. 1, 1966, pp. 165– 173, p. 173 note 19.
2. ↑ cf. Hermann Nasse The sculptor Karl Romeis , in: The Christian art. Monthly for all areas of Christian art and art history 27th year, 1930/31, p. 183.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Bettina Bauer-Spandl: The Munich sculptor Karl Romeis (1895-1960) , commemorative publication on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Maria Romeis, the widow of the sculptor Karl Romeis, ed. by Maria Romeis, Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1998, p. 13 ff.
4. ↑ Own information in an affidavit made on March 16, 1948 in Munich, printed in: André Stirenberg: Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle: A life for duty , vol. 2, p. 582.
5. ↑ Manfred Heim: The bust of Johann Michael Sailer (1751-1832) in the atrium of the University of Munich and its unveiling on June 14, 1933 , in: Journal for Bavarian State History Vol. 66, No. 1, 1966, pp. 165-173; Claudia Mayr, Martha Schad: Women in bronze and stone - Munich . Stiebner, Munich 2008, p. 73.