Maria Weber (sculptor)

Maria Weber (born February 2, 1899 in Landshut , † February 8, 1984 in Munich ) was a German sculptor .

Life

In 1921 Maria Weber was one of the first women to be accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . She began studying painting with Angelo Jank . Then switched to Bernhard Bleeker's sculpting class , initially as an intern, as he was of the opinion: “Sculpture is too difficult for a woman, you need strength and energy. But you can register with me as an intern ”. Bleeker's student Maria Weber described her teacher as closed and extremely taciturn, but as a teacher he radiated great authority and gave his students enough freedom for self-development. During discussions about the correction work, works by Maillol , Rodin , Despiau , but also sculptures by San Zeno Maggiore in Verona or the Cathedral of Chartres , as well as the equestrian statue of Marc Aurel were discussed. Bleeker soon showed greater interest in her work and in 1923 she was accepted as a master student in his master class. In 1927 she finished her studies and since then has been regularly represented in the great Munich art exhibitions.

With a travel grant from the city of Munich, Maria Weber came to Paris for a study visit in 1930 , where she became acquainted with Aristide Maillol and Charles Despiau . In 1933 she was represented in a collective exhibition at the Munich Art Association and reported in the Munich press.

Up until 1933 Weber had mainly created animal sculptures . Later the human form and the human face came more and more into their field of vision. As a sought-after portraitist, she created portraits of the violinist Herma Studeny , the writer's widow Marta Feuchtwanger , the politician and social reformer Elly Heuss-Knapp , the publisher Reinhard Piper , the poet Gertrud von le Fort , as well as the economist Carl Gabler and Hubert Tigges . The portrait busts of the painter Adolf Hengeler and the philosopher Aloys Wenzl were bought by the Bavarian state in 1937 and 1959, respectively. The municipal gallery has bought the "snake bearer". In 1953 she created the relief "Otto" in marble for the hall of honor in the Deutsches Museum, in 1954 the small "Flute Player" in bronze and in 1964 the large "Flute Player" in front of the leisure center in Fürstenried.

From 1940 to 1943 Maria Weber worked on the ground floor of a studio building on Ainmillerstraße in Schwabing and from 1944 to 1966 she also lived there.

In 1980 Maria Weber received the Pasinger Art and Culture Prize.

Maria Weber died six days before her 85th birthday and was buried on February 13, 1984 in the Obermenzing forest cemetery.

Today you can find her works made of stone, bronze and wood in the Bavarian State Gallery and the Municipal Gallery in Munich, on public buildings such as B. the bronze lions on the door handles of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, but also in gardens and grounds.

literature

• Hubert Tigges: The sculptor Maria Weber. Bruckmann, Munich, 1970, ISBN 3765413747
• Frank Henseleit: in dissertation to obtain a doctorate at the Philological-Historical Faculty of the University of Augsburg: The sculptor Bernhard Bleeker (1881–1968), October 2006
• Gerhard J. Bellinger, Brigittegler-Bellinger: Schwabings Ainmillerstraße and its most important residents. A representative example of Munich's city history from 1888 to today. Books on Demand, 2nd edition, 2012, ISBN 3848228831

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pasinger Art and Culture Prize , accessed on June 19, 2015.