Wilhelm Kimbel

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Wilhelm Kimbel (1908)

Wilhelm Kimbel (born February 4, 1868 in Breslau ; † May 21, 1965 in Zehdenick ) was a German cabinet maker (cabinet maker) and interior designer .

Life

Wilhelm Kimbel came from a Mainz cabinetmaker family who moved to Breslau in 1866, shortly before he was born. He spent his apprenticeship years in Hamburg , Cologne , Mainz and Berlin and learned to work in various historical-decorative styles from the most skilful master craftsmen of his time. He stayed in America between 1889 and 1894 and then worked as a freelance architect , painter and craftsman . In 1897 he founded the Kimbel & Friedrichsen company in Berlin . He dealt with the inlay of wooden mosaics ( marquetry ) and mechanics with such success that soon after the turn of the century he developed into one of the leading interior designers in the capital.

With his company, Kimbel supplied the Berlin upper class with furniture of the highest quality, which was based on English furniture in terms of shape, design and decorative elements. The taste of his customers was rather classic-conservative.

In 1908 Wilhelm Kimbel received the title of court cabinet maker and a small gold medal at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition . After the bankruptcy of his company in 1931, Wilhelm Kimbel moved to Zehdenick in 1933, was registered as a member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts , and created a large number of landscape and floral watercolors there, which were well received by the public. He died on May 21, 1965, his grave is in Zehdenick Cemetery I.

Gerhart Hauptmann created a memorial to his friend Wilhelm Kimbel in the novel Wanda with the character of Willi Maak from Breslau.

plant

Between 1904 and 1917 Kimbel created his important interior decorations in the style of the Renaissance, Empire, Louis XVI for the Zeughaus Berlin , which was destroyed in 1945. and the neo-baroque. He worked for the Kronprinzenpalais (Berlin) in 1906. For the Hotel Adlon and the Eden Hotel on Kurfürstendamm, he created furnishings in a modern style. The inlaid hall of Charlottenburg Town Hall was designed by him 1914th His work could be found in the management rooms of Deutsche Bank AG on Behrenstrasse and the Berlin City Palace , as well as on some HAPAG passenger ships (1922–1929) and in Paulinum Palace in the Hirschberger Valley .

In 1919/20 Kimbel and his Berlin company Kimbel & Friedrichsen were responsible for extensive redesigns in Wernigerode Castle, in particular the so-called "Henrichskammern" and parts of the ground floor, including the study of Prince Stolberg-Wernigerode and the installation of the "New Library". These works are among Kimbel's best-preserved major works to this day.

literature

  • Melitta Schmidt [Jonas]: Wilhelm Kimbel and the cabinet maker Kimbel & Friedrichsen. Studies on the company estate, master's thesis, text and photo book, [mach., Unpublished] TU Berlin 1987.
  • Melitta Jonas: Wilhelm Kimbel. A historist in the modern age. In: Exhibition catalog Art Déco. Art of historicism? Christian Juranek, Ulrich Feldhahn, Melitta Jonas, Edition Schloss Wernigerode, Volume 22, Verlag Janos Stekovics, Wettin-Löbejün OT Dößel 2019, ISBN 978-3-89923-402-2 .
  • Kimbel, Wilhelm . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 20 : Kaufmann – Knilling . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1927, p. 309 .

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Kimbel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reich Chamber of Fine Arts: 06. Personal files of members: Kimbel, Wilhelm (* February 4, 1868) approx. 1933–1945; A Rep. 243-04 No. 4224; Old archive signature: BDC No. 2400016016; Film No. 77, 2841, index number: 9742, p. 1484 ( content.landesarchiv-berlin.de PDF).
  2. ^ Friedhelm Marx : Gerhart Hauptmann. Reclam, Stuttgart 1998 (RUB 17608, Literature Studies series). ISBN 3-15-017608-5 , p. 331, 8. Zvo
personal data
SURNAME Kimbel, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cabinet maker (cabinet maker) and interior designer
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1965
Place of death Zehdenick