Karl Stanka

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Karl Stanka

Karl Hubert Stanka (born January 23, 1883 in Podersam , † December 15, 1947 in Radeberg ) was an Austro-German painter , draftsman and chronicler . His particular merit is the creation of a chronologically ordered representation of the urban development of Radeberg in the first half of the 20th century with the means of the visual arts, which is exceptional in terms of scope and quality .

Life

Karl Hubert Stanka was the son of the Podersamer confectioner Karl Stanka and his wife Maria geb. Wagner. Karl Hubert had eight siblings, three of whom died early. At the age of eight he was able to present his teacher with an extensive portfolio with drawings of animals, but the school ignored them and received no feedback. After graduating from elementary school in 1897, Stanka learned the profession of porcelain painter . The desire to take up an artistic degree failed due to a lack of financial resources and funding. After completing his apprenticeship, Stanka went on a hike and worked as an enamel and watercolor painter , went to Linz an der Donau and Offenbach am Main , where he also worked as a draftsman and engraver . From 1902 to 1903, Stanka financed an apprenticeship at the “Staatshandwerkerschule” in Linz from her own savings and later from 1909 to 1911 in Dresden. In 1909 Stanka came to Radeberg looking for a job and worked as an enamel painter and steel plate engraver in the United Eschebach'schen Werken AG (Vewag) . Stanka passed his military service in Eger because he was still a citizen of Austria-Hungary . In 1914 he was drafted from Podersam for military service and deployed first in Serbia and later on the Russian Eastern Front. In June 1916, Stanka was taken prisoner by Russia . After his release he returned to Radeberg in 1919 and worked again in the Eschebach factories. On June 17, 1923, Stanka married Herta Luise Langguth (1894–1975), a granddaughter of the Radeberg sculptor and stonemason owner F. Wilhelm Rietschel. The marriage resulted in two sons, who died young, and a daughter, who managed her father's artistic legacy.

Grave complex of the Stanka family in the Radeberg cemetery

In 1924 he received the naturalization certificate from the city council of Radeberg , with which Stanka became a citizen of the German Empire . In 1931 Stanka became unemployed. During this time he led three painting and drawing courses free of charge until 1934. In 1937 he found work again at the Sachsenwerk Radeberg , initially as a script and poster painter , then as a technical draftsman until the plant was shut down and dismantled in 1945 .

Karl Stanka worked as a freelancer until his death on December 15, 1947 in Radeberg. The grave of the Stanka family is in the Radeberg cemetery.

Act

Since his earliest youth Stanka has artistically worked. Drawings and paintings (mostly watercolors) with motifs from his hometown Podersam and its surroundings, as well as numerous portrait sketches and animal pictures, testify to his early talent, as do his sketches and studies for his work as a porcelain and enamel painter. While he was a prisoner of war, he made around 100 small-format pictures (mostly postcard-sized due to lack of paper). Although Stanka was arrested in Bohemian territory on the march back to Radeberg in June 1918, he managed to bring most of these pictures to Radeberg. In June 1935 85 of these works are in a "former National Association prisoner of war" by organized exhibition in Pirna been shown, including the painted from memory image of the death camp Tozkoje where in winter 1915/1916 more than 17,000 prisoners of a typhoid fever - epidemic to Victims fell.

A large number of preparatory graphic works (sketches, drafts and engraving templates) have also been preserved, as well as drafts for posters , plaques and social events.

Stanka's main work consists in the production of over 400 drawings and paintings of motifs from his second hometown, Radeberg, which he began in the mid-1920s and then made mainly during his unemployment period. These are predominantly documentary in character and offer a historically accurate image of the city with artistic means, especially of buildings, facilities and settlements that have had to give way to industrial and structural development or have been left to decay. He also recorded motifs and urban ensembles of which hardly any photo documents are known. For the industrial history of Radeberg in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Stanka's views of the former Radeberg glassworks are particularly valuable as a complete system because there are no photos of these motifs either. The two depictions of the first Radeberg glassworks founded by Wilhelm Rönsch in 1858 as part of the landscape on the Große Röder are among the outstanding works.

In connection with the chronological data in the signatures and with the motif information, Stanka's pictorial representations can be described as “Radeberger Bild-Chronik”, which represents a significant overall work for the development of the cityscape in the first half of the 20th century.

  • Hüttermühle Radeberg, 1930. Watercolor

  • Marktplatz Radeberg 1931. Pencil drawing

  • Radeberg town church and old school 1931. Pencil drawing

  • Old shooting house 1936. Pencil drawing

  • Radeberg, v. l .: First glass factory, Stadtmühle, Scherz'sche factory. 1931. Pencil drawing

Works

Stanka's artistic estate was administered by his daughter Marianne (1924–2007). The majority of the works, around 620 works, are now owned by the Museum Schloss Klippenstein Radeberg, whose director at the time, Rudolf Limpach, had already bought works by Stanka before 1960. However, the majority have passed into the museum's possession due to a will from Stanka's daughter. About 25 works were bequeathed to the Radeberg district group of the Sudeten German State Association of Saxony eV . A smaller number of Stanka's works, which are not exactly known, are privately owned. At a public auction of over 20 Stanka's works on December 31, 2008, proceeds of 1,465 euros were achieved in favor of the Radeberger Stadtkirche .

Appreciations

Start of the public relations campaign in 1999 with Stanka's daughter Marianne (center) and the Radeberg mayor Gerhard Lemm

The first exhibition with 85 works was in Pirna in June 1935. From May to August 2009 the Museum Schloss Klippenstein Radeberg presented a comprehensive exhibition about the life and work of Stanka. This was preceded by a comprehensive inventory and cataloging.

Because of his services to the historical representation of the city of Radeberg, Karl Stanka received the honorary title "Radeberger painter-chronicler".

In December 1998, on the initiative of a Radeberg retailer, in the presence of Stanka's daughter Marianne, the Radeberg mayor G. Lemm, the castle manager K. Altmann and the editor of the newspaper, the Radeberger , I. Engemann, started a public relations campaign and sales offer for the work Karl Stankas manufacturing and marketing of reproductions of selected Radeberger views. The proceeds were donated to the Schlossverein / Museum Schloss Klippenstein in December 1999.

Web links

Commons : Karl Stanka  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robotron Radeberg operational history. Sachsenwerk 1920 to 1946 , accessed on January 2, 2019
  2. ^ Author collective / D. Mauerhoff: Personalities of our city. In: Radeberger Blätter zur Stadtgeschichte. Volume 10, 2012. Ed. Große Kreisstadt Radeberg, p. 177
  3. ^ Radeberger Zeitung of July 2, 1935, Radeberg City Archives
  4. ^ Mauerhoff, D .: The local painter Karl Stanka: Pictures of the glass factories in Radeberg . In: Pressed Glass Correspondence. Edition 2009-3. Retrieved January 6, 2019 . (PDF; 1.0 MB)
  5. ^ Dietrich Mauerhoff: The Radeberger glass industry. In: Radeberger Blätter zur Stadtgeschichte. Volume 10, 2012. Ed. Große Kreisstadt Radeberg, p. 107 ff.
  6. ↑ Pictures from the Sudetenland 2009 in the castle. In: Sächsische Zeitung of April 21, 2008
  7. ↑ Pictures by Karl Stanka bring 1465 EURO at auction . In: Sächsische Zeitung of January 2, 2009
  8. ^ Karl Stanka - The Radeberg native painter . Museum Schloss Klippenstein, review of exhibitions 2009
  9. ↑ Tour through a lost Radeberg . In: Sächsische Zeitung from June 20-21, 2009
  10. ↑ Cultivating traditions . In: Radeberger No. 50/1998 of December 18, 1998
personal data
SURNAME Stanka, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stanka, Karl Hubert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-German painter, draftsman and chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Podersam
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1947
Place of death Radeberg