Moritz Geiss

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Philipp Konrad Moritz Geiß (born September 7, 1805 in Berlin; † September 10, 1875 there ) was a German iron and zinc caster and founder of the zinc casting industry.

Live and act

Moritz Geiß, born in Berlin in 1805, came from the second marriage of the iron caster Johann Conrad Geiß to Caroline Christiane Vasseur. After his school education in the Plamann Institute and in the grammar school of the Gray Monastery , he attended the " Royal Commercial Institute " in Berlin. He then completed a one-year internship in the Silesian iron foundries in Gliwice and Malapane . Back in Berlin, Geiss took private lessons in drawing and perspective from the painter and later director of the drawing academy in Hanau Theodor Pelissier (1794–1863), who stayed in Berlin in 1826 for his own studies with Karl Wilhelm Wach and acquired in the shared studio of the brothers Karl and Ludwig Wilhelm Wichmann knowledge of modeling. At the same time he conducted physical and chemical studies and then went on a one and a half year study trip to England and France for further training.

Between 1814 and 1836, Geiß took part in the Berlin academy exhibitions with small iron castings such as clocks, musical instruments, decorative weapons and filigree jewelry. In 1828 he was named "Academic Artist" for his skillfully executed works. After his father took him on as a co-owner of his iron foundry in 1830, he called himself factory owner and acad. Artist PCM Geiß junior . From 1832 Geiß also worked in zinc casting in his first Berlin zinc foundry at the Oranienburger Tor, which was founded in the same year .

As early as the end of the 1820s, Moritz Geiß tried out and developed a process for producing fully plastic figures from cast zinc . In contrast to the elaborate and expensive bronze and iron castings, the new technology enabled figures and architectural parts to be cast or recreated faster and more cost-effectively. Sections with a wall thickness of two to eight millimeters were manufactured individually and then soldered together. Gradually, various surface treatments followed, including white oil paint or gilding. Since 1852 he has been producing zinc castings with galvanic coloring. Geiß knew well how to color the zinc castings bronze-like. The process was able to replace damaged works of art made of sandstone, which were molded and painted over or sanded and looked deceptively similar to the originals of ancient and contemporary stone works. From 1841 onwards he published his work based on designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel , Friedrich August Stüler , Heinrich Strack , Ludwig Persius , Johann Gottfried Schadow , Eduard Knoblauch , Christian Daniel Rauch , August Kiß and others in individual sample booklets under the title zinc casting ornaments based on drawings by Schinkel, Stüler, Strack, Persius ... in precise illustrations according to the scale for use by architects, builders and all those who are devoted to ornamentation . In addition, Geiß took part in exhibitions and visited the “ First German Industrial Exhibition ” in Mainz in 1842 , the “ General German Industrial Exhibition ” in Berlin in 1844 , the World Exhibition in London in 1851 and the “ First General German Industrial Exhibition ” in Munich in 1854 .

Moritz Geiß died three days after his 70th birthday on September 10, 1875 in Berlin and was buried in the local cathedral cemetery I on Liesenstrasse . The grave has not been preserved. Geiß had already handed over his company to its managing director Ludwig Emil Adalbert Castner (1832–1907) in 1870 , who named it “A. Castner, vorm. M. Geiß ”until 1889.

family

Portrait medallion Moritz Geiß Portrait medallion Maria Geiß
Portrait medallion
Moritz Geiß
Portrait medallion
Maria Geiß

Moritz Geiß married Maria Lauerbach (1821-1851) in 1842, the daughter of the Viennese businessman Georg Friedrich Lauerbach. With her he had two sons and three daughters. After the death of his wife in 1854 he married the widowed Florentine von der Lehe (1810–1890), daughter of the Berlin art dealer Johann Baptist Weiß, a second marriage.

On the tomb in cemetery II of the cathedral parish there were reliefs of Moritz Geiß and his first wife Maria Geiß, who were lost after the Second World War . However, there are replicas as portrait medallions in bronze and iron.

Works (selection)

  • from 1825 numerous zinc casting works on the Glienicke palace grounds , Berlin
  • Around 1831/1832 gilding in the concert hall of the Hótel de Russie in Berlin. On behalf of EJ Roth the owner and in collaboration with factory owner Mencke and Friedrich Wilhelm Langerhans
  • 1839 Fighting Amazon (lost). Zinc cast based on a model by August Kiss. Formerly the northern stringer at Charlottenhof Palace , Potsdam
  • 1842 Fighting Amazon . Zinc casting based on the bronze original by August Kiss in front of the Altes Museum Berlin
  • 1839 Praying boy made of gilded zinc casting (not preserved). Created from an antique original. Former location: Cascades on the east side of Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
  • 1841 Four caryatids based on a design by August Kiss (1839) at the winegrower's house above the Triumphal Gate , Potsdam
  • 1843 Athene , figure for a niche in the east wall of the Villa Schöningen , Potsdam
  • before 1844 tomb for Ernst Ludwig von Tippelskirch , based on a design by August Soller , old garrison cemetery , Berlin
  • 1847 Relief pictures on the pulpit, altar barriers and balustrades in the church of St. Nikolai , Potsdam, based on a drawing by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and a model by August Kiß
  • around 1850 brass and zinc cladding ("art form") of the iron structures in the Neues Museum , Berlin
  • 1851 Zinc cast ornaments on the entablature of the “Dreikönigsportal”. Former city-side entrance (Schopenhauerstraße) to the Friedenskirchen area , Potsdam
  • 1853 Shepherd and dog fighting a panther , copper-plated cast zinc based on a model by Julius Franz ( cast bronze in 1996/97). Sicilian garden in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
  • 1854 Statue of Victoria (after Rauch) on the Victory Column in Heidau , Silesia, on the Scheuberg - donated by the officer corps of VI. Army Corps
  • around 1854 Girl and boy praying with Bible , cast zinc. Based on a design by Christian Daniel Rauch (bronze cast in 1993). Gate entrance to the Friedensgarten at the Friedenskirche, Potsdam
  • 1856 Farnesian bull (not preserved). Zinc cast according to an ancient group in the National Museum of Naples . Formerly on the top terrace of the Orangery Palace , Potsdam
  • 1856 Rubenow Monument , Greifswald
  • 1858 Statue of Electress Luise Henriette von Oranien , Oranienburg , Luisenplatz in front of the palace
  • 1860 Baptism angel, Martin Luther Church in Gütersloh. Bronze cast zinc based on an original by Bertel Thorvaldsen
  • 1864 Statue of the Prussian King Friedrich II. , Zinna Monastery
  • 1869 Statue of Friedrich II., On Friedrichsplatz in Liegnitz / Silesia, unveiled on August 15, 1869 (109th anniversary of the Battle of Liegnitz ), removed and removed after weather damage in 1904. A copy made of hollow electroplated bronze was erected on the preserved base.
  • A Viktoria (after Rauch) for the Victory Column (Siegburg) (cast by business successor Adalbert Castner)

literature

Web links

Commons : Moritz Geiß  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Pelissier, Theodor . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 26 : Olivier – Pieris . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1932, p. 356 .
  2. ^ A b Elisabeth Bartel and Nele Güntheroth: From Prussian iron art casting to artistic zinc casting - Moritz Geiss' study trip from Berlin to Great Britain in 1828 , Verlag Willmuth Arenhövel Berlin, 2013, ISBN 978-3-922912-73-6 .
  3. a b c Sperlich. In: New German Biography. 1964.
  4. In the Berlin address book of 1830 he is entered as a "jeweler and academic artist".
  5. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin tombs. Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006. p. 8.
  6. ^ As stated in Meyers Conversations-Lexikon. Edition 1887.
  7. General theater newspaper and original journal for art, literature…. Volume 26, p. 72 ( books.google.de ).