Otto Maerker

Otto Max Friedrich Maerker (born December 9, 1891 in Schöneberg near Berlin , † March 7, 1967 in Kleinmachnow ) was a German sculptor. He designed sculptures, reliefs, busts and film scenes.

Life

Otto Maerker trained as a stonemason with the Austrian sculptor Franz Metzner . Metzner had set up his own atelier in Zehlendorf near Berlin in 1896 , in which sculptures for the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig were made and apprentices trained. At the age of 19 Maerker already had the professional title of art sculptor. In the following years Maerker moved to Kleinmachnow and took on orders for the further development of the imperial capital. During these years the art world counted Otto Maerker as a supporter of the National Socialists .

In Kleinmachnow he experienced the end of World War II and was able to continue his artistic career there, now in the Soviet occupation zone (from 1949 German Democratic Republic ).

Maerker was married and had a son.

He is buried in the Kleinmachnow forest cemetery (Block D, number 19).

Works (selection)

One of Maerker's best-known works of art is the bronze sculpture Die Kugeläuferin , which adorns a fountain on Zeltinger Platz in Berlin-Frohnau . It was erected in 1931 but melted down in the final years of the war. The plaster model was preserved and a replica could be made with its help. The copy was made under the direction of the art restorer Harald Haake and was placed in its original location in 1980.

Other work:

The Seelenbinder memorial stele, then set up in the Werner Seelenbinder Hall , is visited by boxers from Syria in 1963.

Liebknecht memorial stone

• 1924, 1925/1926: Collaboration on the sets of the films The Nibelungs and Metropolis
• 1938: Head portrait of a man
• 1939: The hunt , relief
• 1943: Film set for Münchhausen

• 1953: Bronze plaque for a Karl Marx memorial stone, set up for the 135th birthday of the philosopher Karl Marx in front of the SED party college on the Hakeburg site in Kleinmachnow
• 1958: Marabu , in front of the Seniors Foundation in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg , Gürtelstraße 32, a second cast is in the zoo
• 1959: Memorial stone with picture plaque for Karl Liebknecht , erected in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg at the intersection of Prenzlauer Allee and the corner of Saarbrücker Straße on the site of the former Bötzow brewery
• 1962: Portrait bust of Alfred Brehm , placed in 1963 in the Berlin Zoo
• 1961: Standing nude girl , placed in front of the heron flight cage in the zoo

Sea lion on ball

• 1963: a nude figure, a fountain figure ( sea ​​lion on a ball ) and a second cast of the marabou , all set up in the zoo

• 1946 to 1965: Life-size portrait busts of Wilhelm Pieck (1950; height 60 cm; weight 30 kg), further Pieck casts, one of which has been in the Leipzig City History Museum since the 21st century , Otto Grotewohl , Ernst Thälmann , Werner Seelenbinder ( Set up in the Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle in 1952. Should have been in the Werner-Seelenbinder-Gymnasium since the sports hall was demolished), Victor Stern , Wolfgang Joho .

Otto Maerker had often sculpted family members in plaster or bronze. He began his art work with a bust of his son. His works also include numerous small sculptures, in particular nudes and animals.

Otto Maerker worked closely with the Lauchhammer art foundry when casting his works of art .

literature

• Ernst Vogel: Dear Otto Maerker! In: Kulturspiegel Kleinmachnow ; 1956 (2), No. 12; Pages 270/271.

Web links

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

• No stranger to Frohnau: Otto Marker on a private homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maerker, Otto> Kunstbildh., Zehlendf., Düppelstraße 19, Gh. In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1920, Part I, p. 1754.
2. ↑ View of the ball runner on flickr.com /
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Five works by Maerker on www.bildhauerei-in-berlin.de ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b} sculptures, monuments, fountains in Berlin. Lichtenberg. Catalog, published by the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein, 1993, p. 43 ff.
5. ↑ Art in the zoo on dasberliner capital forum; Retrieved July 9, 2014.
6. ^ Pieck - large portrait bust of Wilhelm Pieck offered in an art auction house. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
7. ^ Bust of Wilhelm Pieck on Europeana.eu ; Retrieved July 9, 2014.
8. ↑ From a snippet on Hubert Faensen: Hakeburg Secret Bearer: Example of a functional change: mansion, ministerial residence, research institute, SED party school on books.google.de; Brandenburg State Center for Political Education, 1997.
9. ↑ Martin H. Schmidt (Ed.): Art casting in Lauchhammer. 1784 until today. (Bod), without year; Page 85.