Richard Suessmuth

Richard Süßmuth (born December 23, 1900 in Ruhland , Province of Silesia ; † March 12, 1974 in Immenhausen , Hesse ) was a German glass artist and from 1946 a glassworks entrepreneur in Immenhausen. From a young age he was internationally known for breaking new ground in various areas of glass art, especially cutting and design.

life and work

Richard Süßmuth grew up in Penzig in Lower Silesia ( Pieńsk in Polish ). Following his father, who worked in glass production, he learned the trade of a glass cutter in the Pienziger “Adlerhütte” . Then worked in various glass refining companies. From 1922 he studied glass design at the State Academy for Applied Arts in Dresden . In 1924 he opened his own glass art workshop in Penzig, Görlitz district in Silesia . In 1927 he exhibited his handicrafts at the "European Arts and Crafts" fair in Leipzig and at the International Fair in Monza . Since 1928 he made designs for pressed glasses . With these relief glasses, the ornamentation emerges from the surface. His glasses were exhibited at the “Glass and Metal” exhibition in Berlin in 1928; 1931 and 1934 at exhibitions in Milan. In 1929/30 his goods were part of a traveling exhibition of European glass through nine major cities in the USA.

After the Second World War he was expelled from Penzig, now in Poland, and lost his business. In 1946 he reopened his own business by rebuilding the glassworks in Immenhausen, which was destroyed in the war in 1945 .

Süßmuth was represented at numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. Some of his works (bowls, vases, goblets and tumblers made of glass) were shown at the documenta III in Kassel in 1964 in the Industrial Design department .

Süßmuth's work and design have been awarded numerous prizes. Among other things, he received gold medals at the International Crafts Exhibition in Madrid in 1953 and a gold medal for his most famous cut, the ray cut, at the Triennale in Milan in 1954. He was also awarded gold medals at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958 and at the International Crafts Fair in Munich awarded in the same year. In 1953 the Federal President awarded him the Cross of Merit (Steckkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 1966 the Great Cross of Merit .

Also due to the pressure of further industrialization of glass production, in 1970 he handed over his manufacture to self-administration by the workforce. The Immenhausen glassworks ceased production in 1996. In the Immenhausen Glass Museum , Süßmuth's works can be viewed in the permanent collection.

Works (selection)

• 1935: Design and manufacture of a glass window for the west side of the deanery church of the Assumption of Mary in Glatz
• around 1950: three windows of the catholic emergency church on Koppenberg in Wolfhagen , today in a private house
• 1952: ten windows in the Catholic Church of St. Clemens Maria in Immenhausen
• around 1955: all windows of the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit in Grebenstein
• around 1955: twelve windows of the Protestant church in Heckershausen
• around 1955: Window based on a design by Helga Rudolph in the Protestant Peace Church in Kassel
• 1956: eleven windows in the Catholic Church of St. Hedwig in Heepen (Bielefeld)
• around 1956: 18 windows of the Catholic Church in Besse
• 1958: Window in the Evangelical Lutheran Martin Luther Church in Blomberg
• around 1960: several windows in the Catholic Church in Elgershausen
• around 1960: Execution of several windows according to a design by Agnes Mann in the Catholic branch church in Neukirchen (municipality of Haunetal)
• 1963/64: all windows of the catholic church St. Johannes Nepomuk in Bökendorf (municipality Brakel )
• around 1965: five windows in the Lemgo Clinic
• 1966: Windows designed by Else Bircks in the house chapel of the Elisabeth Clinic in Fulda
• around 1968: "Silesian coat of arms" window in glass adhesive technology in the Heidkamp district building (Bergisch Gladbach)

Honors

• The state road 157 in Weißwasser / OL named Süßmuthlinie.

literature

• Karl H. Bröhan and Dieter Högermann (arr.): Richard Süßmuth, Penzig . In: Art of the 20s and 30s. Collection Karl H. Bröhan, Berlin. Volume III. Berlin, 1985. pp. 535ff.
• documenta III. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand Drawings; Volume 3: Industrial Design, Graphics; Kassel / Cologne 1964
• Elke Domke, Helmut Hannes and Walter Scheiffele: Lausitz time machine. Lausitz glass . Großräschen, 2004. p. 50ff.
• Helmut Hannes: Pressglas by Richard Süßmuth , in: Pressglas-Korrespondenz 2000-02. Gangkofen, 2000. pp. 95ff
• Helmut Hannes: Richard Süssmuth - a pioneer in modern glass design , in: Jahrbuch Landkreis Kassel, 15 (1987), pp. 175–179
• Richard Süssmuth: Glass and glasses, Aulis Verlag Deubner & Co KG Cologne
• Friedrich Karl Baas: The glass designer Richard Süssmuth from 1946 - 1966. Publisher: Society of Friends of Glass Art Richard Süssmuth eV Glasheft No. 1 self-published
• Friedrich Karl Baas, Dagmar Ruhlig-Lühnen: The form has to serve the function - the glass designer and entrepreneur Richard Süßmuth. Publisher: Society of Friends of Glass Art Richard Süßmuth eV Glass booklet No. 25 self-published in 2000

Web links

Commons : Glasmalerei Süssmuth (Immenhausen)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• www.immenhausen.de/glasmuseum Glasmuseum Immenhausen
• Literature by and about Richard Süßmuth in the catalog of the German National Library
• Materials by and about Richard Süßmuth in the documenta archive

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Suzanna Wycisk-Müller: creativeness Silesia from A to Z . tape 2 . Engelsdorf Verlag Leipzig, 2016, p. 143/145 .
2. ↑ Ulrich Werner: Glass production began 150 years ago in Penzig O / L. In: Förderverein Glasmuseum Weißwasser e. V. (Ed.): Latest news . No. December 14 , 2008 ( online, PDF, 287 kB [accessed July 3, 2020]).
3. ↑ Dieter Pohl : The Catholic Church in the County of Glatz in the years 1918 to 1945 . In: Die Grafschaft Glatz between 1918 and 1946. Eds. Horst-Alfons Meißner and Michael Hirschfeld, ISBN 978-3-402-12896-1 , Aschendorf Verlag Münster 2012, p. 42 f.
4. ↑ Bielefeld-Heepen, Catholic Church St. Hedwig. Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century V., July 8, 2008, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Blomberg, Ev.-Luth. Martin Luther Church. Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century V., July 8, 2008, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Brakel-Bökendorf, Catholic Church of St. Johannes Nepomuk. Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century V., July 8, 2008, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
7. ^ Lemgo, Clinic. Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century V., July 8, 2008, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Bergisch Gladbach-Heidkamp, ​​district house. Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century V., July 8, 2008, accessed January 24, 2020 .