Otto Münch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Münch (born October 23, 1885 in Meissen , † January 26, 1965 in Zurich ) was a Swiss plasterer , stone sculptor and bronze sculptor . He was best known for the design of the two bronze doors of the Great Minster in Zurich. He also created numerous sculptures, fountain figures and architectural decorations for Zurich.

Life

Portal at the Grossmünster

From 1900 to 1904 Münch completed an apprenticeship as a wood sculptor in Meissen, after which he trained as a sculptor, plasterer and interior designer until 1907. From 1907 to 1911 he attended the arts and crafts school in Dresden with sculptor Karl Gross and architect Wilhelm Kreis .

In 1911, Münch moved to Zurich, where he worked for the architecture firm Bollert & Herter. In 1912 he started his own business as a sculptor in Arnold Böcklin's former studio in Zurich-Hottingen and, together with his wife Maria Münch-Winkel, ran an art school for sculpture and applied arts. Münch himself named Andrea Pisano , Ernst Barlach and Käthe Kollwitz as exemplary for his figure representations . In the same year there was the first collaboration with the architects Otto and Werner Pfister, who erected numerous large buildings in prominent locations in Zurich. From 1912 to 1914, Münch designed the Art Nouveau staircase of the St. Annahof department store , the exterior sculptures at the Peterhof (Grieder fashion house), at the Leuenhof (Bank Leu) and their stucco ceilings. From 1919 to 1922 Münch was the artistic director for the architectural decoration of the National Bank Zurich and created the models for the pillar reliefs as well as stucco and a sculpture inside the building.

In 1923 Otto Münch received the citizenship of Zurich. Emilio Stanzani did his sculpting apprenticeship with him from 1923 to 1926. After 1930 he increasingly created free-standing sculptures as well as bronze reliefs, fountain sculptures and objects of daily use. In 1933 he was given the task of restoring the facade sculptures on the Grossmünster and replacing some of them with new creations. In this context he made a copy of the figure of Charlemagne on the south tower.

Münch received international attention through the commission to create the bronze Bible door on the Grossmünster. The Bible door consists of 42 relief fields and was completed in 1950. It shows the Ten Commandments, the creed with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, stories from the New Testament and Huldrych Zwingli's first sermon at the Great Minster. In 1939 Münch had already completed the Zwinglitür with 24 square fields. Larger orders in Germany followed, including the creation of the Pentecostal altar for St. Catherine's Church in Hamburg. The bronze relief of bricklayers, carpenters, miners in the house "Zum Schanzengraben" in Zurich, created in 1960, is Münch's last major profane work. During his decades of activity he created sculptures, fountain figures and architectural decorations for Zurich. Münch was a member of the Swiss Werkbund as well as the artists' associations Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors GSMBA and Oktagon.

Aftermath

After his death, he found his final resting place in Zurich's Enzenbühl cemetery , Münch and his works were quickly forgotten; to this day there is neither a monograph nor a complete catalog of his works. Its design language was based on antiquity and the Renaissance . Münch did not abstract his works, remained stuck with tradition and the figurative and was therefore considered out of date for decades. The fountain figures are perceived as decorative objects, the ornaments on the public buildings as part of the architecture. The bronze sculpture “Mädchen im Wind” (1936) stands at Mythenquai as if lost on the edge of the Landiwiese on a busy street. The name of the artist is not given for any of the works.

photos

  • "Girl in the Wind" bronze statue on Mythenquai, Zurich

  • Fountain figure at Dufourplatz in Zollikon

  • Fountain figure at Bellevue, Zurich

  • Tomb of the Göhner family , Enzenbühl cemetery , Zollikon

  • Columns on the north facade of the National Bank of Zurich

literature

  • Robert Heinrich Oehninger: The Zwingli portal at the Grossmünster in Zurich. Church council of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich (Ed.). Zurich 2004, ISBN 978-3-03823-122-6 .
  • Germaid Ruck: Münch, Otto . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 91, de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-023257-8 , p. 217.

Web links

Commons : Otto Münch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The twin door at the Grossmünster


personal data
SURNAME Münch, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss plasterer, sculptor and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Meissen
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1965
Place of death Zurich