Mayer'sche Hofkunstanstalt

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Mayer'sche Hofkunstanstalt at Seidlstrasse 25

The Mayer'sche Hofkunstanstalt in Munich was founded in 1847 by Joseph Gabriel Mayer as an “art institute for church work” and initially consisted of a sculptor's studio. Later came the stained glass and a mosaic department added. Today the company, which is run by the fifth generation of the Mayer family, works with well-known artists around the world.

founder

Joseph Gabriel Mayer was born on March 18, 1808 in Gebrazhofen as the son of the baker Andreas Mayer. As he was very talented in the subjects of drawing, painting and carving, he turned to ornament sculpture after completing his apprenticeship as a carpenter (1825–1828) . In 1829 he came to Munich on his wanderings and worked for two years for the cabinet maker L. Glück. In his spare time he practiced architectural drawing and attended a preparatory course at the Polytechnic School . On August 24, 1832 he enrolled in painting at the Royal Art Academy , where he was a student of Joseph Schlotthauer , among other things . In 1836 he founded a training school for apprentices, journeymen and masters interested in art and published a volume with 120 template sheets that he himself had drawn on stone.

In 1844 Joseph Gabriel Mayer was appointed director of the state "Institute for the Education and Teaching of Crippled Boys". In this position, which he held until 1859, he looked for opportunities to provide the pupils with paid work when they were released from the institution. Because of his artistic talent, he experimented with a mass of clay and crushed stone, which should be suitable for the formation of sculptures and other objects for the decoration of churches. In 1847 he received a privilege for the material he had developed and founded the “Institute for Christian Art Products”. In it, statues of saints, were produced stations of the cross and other Christian sculptures and caught and produced altar constructions. A short time later, Mayer employed 100 people, for whom he created health and benefit funds. At the London industrial exhibition in 1851 he exhibited works of art from his institution and in the same year acquired a plot of land on Stiglmaierplatz in Munich. There he built a new building in which there were studios and workrooms as well as an exhibition hall. From 1858 the sculptor Joseph Knabl worked as artistic director of the sculpture department. In 1860 he joined the Munich Association for Christian Art as a founding member. In 1865 Mayer founded a sales agency in London. Josef Gabriel Mayer died on April 16, 1883.

Another story

Christmas window (early 1920s) for St. Vibiana Cathedral in Los Angeles , now in the crypt (mausoleum) of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

During the lifetime of the company founder Joseph Gabriel Mayer, his eldest son Joseph and son-in-law Franz Xaver Zettler were part of the management of the company. In 1882, the Bavarian King Ludwig II awarded the company the title "Royal Bavarian Court Art Institute". After Mayer's death in 1883, his second son, Franz Borgias Mayer (1848–1926) became the sole owner of the business. Under his leadership, the international business developed so successfully that the company temporarily employed up to 500 people. One of the most important freelance artists for the company is the Munich painter Karl Wurm, who also created glass pictures that came to the USA, Canada and other overseas countries. In 1888 a branch was established in New York. Pope Leo XIII. awarded the court art establishment in 1892 the title "Institute of the Holy Apostolic See". One of the most prestigious orders was the Holy Spirit window delivered in 1905 for St. Peter's Basilica .

After the First World War, Franz Borgias Mayer transferred the management of the art institute to his sons Anton (1886–1967), Karl (1889–1970) and Adalbert (1894–1987). In 1925 the sculpture department was given up and at the same time the mosaic department was re-established. As a result, the company developed into an artist workshop for glass painting and mosaic.

After 1945

After the destruction of the Second World War, the company was rebuilt. Konrad Mayer (1923–2012) joined the company in the early 1950s. In addition to the restoration of medieval glass paintings and mosaics (e.g. Munich Frauenkirche, Regensburg Cathedral), new artistic tendencies are pursued and successfully implemented under the direction of Gabriel Mayer (* 1938) and his son Michael C. Mayer (* 1967). Thanks to worldwide orders, the company is one of the leading international glass painting and mosaic art workshops. In 2018, a 400 m³ mosaic of light Carrara marble was created for the platform walls of the New York subway station World Trade Center (PATH station) based on a design by the artist Ann Hamilton.

Stained glass window in the Kunsthalle of Schloss Drachenburg depicting Rubens , Dürer and Rembrandt .

For the restoration of Drachenburg Castle , stained glass windows were reconstructed according to original designs by Wilhelm Hoffmann . These were preserved in the archives of Franz Xaver Zettler's royal Bavarian court glass painting .

Other artists and personalities

literature

Web links

Commons : Mayer'sche Hofkunstanstalt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://matrikel.adbk.de/05older/mb_1809-1841/jahr_1832/matrikel-01926/?searchterm=Mayer
  2. ^ Association for Christian Art in Munich: Festgabe in memory of the 50th year. Anniversary . Lentner'sche Hofbuchhandlung, Munich 1910, p. 99
  3. ↑ Susanne Hermanski : Stones for humanity . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung v. 8/9 September 2018, p. R5
  4. ↑ Elena Sebening: Based on original drafts in Munich: Stained glass windows at Drachenburg Castle reconstructed. GA Bonn, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
  5. ^ Ingrid Schuhknecht: Exhibitions and short biography on the page ingrid-schuhknecht.de [ undated ], last accessed on June 16, 2019