Konrad Geldmacher

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Konrad Geldmacher (born November 22, 1878 in Hanover , † January 26, 1965 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor and medalist .

Career

Geldmacher studied at the Hanover School of Applied Arts and the Munich Academy and then worked there. In 1906 he became a member of the Bavarian Arts and Crafts Association . Two years later he had his first solo exhibition. In the same year he went to Berlin.

In World War I he served as a soldier at the front. For this he was awarded on March 20, 1936 by the Berlin police president: "In the name of the Führer and Reich Chancellor, the sculptor Konrad Geldmacher, donated by Hindenburg, was awarded the Cross of Honor for Front Warriors".

Only three months later, on June 11, 1936, he received an occupational ban from the President of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts: “According to the result of my examination of the facts based on your personal characteristics, you do not have the necessary aptitude and reliability in promoting German culture in responsibility To influence people and empire. ... "

He was expelled from the academy and then had to earn his living as an unskilled worker. As a Jew, he only survived the war in Berlin through luck and the life-saving love of his evangelical wife Margarethe. As of 1941, as a “non-privileged” Jewish spouse in a childless mixed marriage, he was forced to wear the yellow star. His workshop in Berlin was bombed out, which meant the loss of almost all works before 1945.

Works

  • 1906: first solo exhibition at the Berlin Secession
  • 1908: first collective exhibition in the Künstlerhaus on Bellevuestrasse
  • 1910: Collective exhibition with Ferdinand Kobells in the Künstlerhaus
  • In 1915 he joined the Berlin Secession and was represented at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1922
  • until 1933 he mainly created life-size heads and busts as well as small relief portraits
  • After the National Socialists came to power, he was banned from work for nine years and his work went publicly unnoticed.
  • from 1945: mainly portrait medals and (bas-relief) plaques of important personalities such as Leibniz, Michelangelo, Buenarroti, Nathan the Wise, Ernst Reuter, Albert Schweitzer, Käthe Kollwitz, Eugenio Pacelli
  • Late work: smaller medals, mostly representations from biblical history in silver

After his death, part of his work went to a Jewish foundation, another part to heirs around the world (USA, Holland).

Honors

literature

  • Konrad Geldmacher . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 2 : E-J . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1955, p. 155 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f "A Master of Small Sculpture" by Inge Unikower in "Der Weg" reprint 1948
  2. ^ Pay book from World War I ( filled out in Sütterlin handwriting )
  3. ↑ Honorary Cross Certificate for Frontline Fighters, issued by the Berlin Police President on March 20, 1936 (NG2523 / 3 6.)
  4. ↑ Exclusion from the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and prohibition of the further exercise of the profession as a sculptor by the President of the Fine Arts On behalf of signed Hoffmann as registered letter dated June 11, 1936 (file number IV 407/10637)
  5. ↑ Workbook 1942 - 1945 with entries from 6 Berlin companies
  6. ^ Identity card J issued on March 14, 1939, validity extended on August 29, 1945
  7. ^ "Die Kunst", monthly for free and applied art, 21st volume "Free Art" of art for everyone XXV year, May 1910, p. 430: From exhibitions in Berlin
  8. ^ "View into my workshop", February 21, 1946 (newspaper clipping from an unknown newspaper)
  9. ^ Testimony of his nephew in a phone conversation in 2015
personal data
SURNAME Money maker, Konrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and medalist
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1965
Place of death Berlin