Richard Steffen

Richard Steffen (* 10. February 1903 in Hamburg , † 30th January 1964 ibid ) was a German sculptor , printer and dramaturge.

First years

Richard Steffen trained as a printer. Shortly after graduating in 1921, he fell so unhappy down a flight of stairs with a metal type case that he injured his spine and remained physically handicapped.

On October 23, 1923 he took part in the so-called Barmbeck uprising of parts of the Hamburg KPD under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann . Following the example of the October Revolution of 1917, the unrest was intended to help usher in the World Communist Revolution . The uprising failed on October 24th, leaving around one hundred dead. Richard Steffen was arrested on the run and was imprisoned for some time.

According to the guild rules of the book printer, he set out on a journey through Germany to Switzerland. He then trained as a dramaturge at the Hamburg drama school. Finally, from 1924 to 1931, he enrolled at the Kunstgewerbeschule am Lerchenfeld (today the University of Fine Arts Hamburg ), learning primarily from the sculptor, ceramist and craftsman Richard Luksch . In 1932 a travel grant from the Amsinck Foundation enabled him to travel to Brussels and Paris with Aristide Maillol as an intern . In 1926 he joined the KPD . Together with the painter Eduard Hopf , he organized art courses for the benefit of artists' aid . His first works, small sculptures based on animal motifs, sold well.

time of the nationalsocialism

In 1933 he settled down as a freelance artist, initially in a studio house on St. Anscharplatz, and from 1940 on at Kleekamp 26 in Wellingsbüttel . He joined the Hamburg art community . Shortly after the seizure of power , some of his works of art were destroyed: oversized dance masks that he had created for the dancer Jean Weidt . When he was arrested in Berlin, they were easily recognized as not particularly friendly symbols of the new government.

Richard Steffen's first major commissions in 1937 included the creation of a figure relief for the Hamburg gas works . He married Hildegard Schubert and had three children by 1942. Although the couple occasionally took in communists, they were spared further Nazi stalking.

Mother and child bronze sculpture by R. Steffen

Steffen's art style changed from delicate, delicate works to strong, stocky figures with simple, voluminous shapes and friendly expression based on Maillol's example. Since the sculptural work did not correspond to the one-sided taste in art of the rulers, he received neither further commissions nor were his works requested for exhibitions. The family's material situation was poor and at times they went hungry. The sculptor Karl August Ohrt persuaded Richard Steffen to take part in a competition for large sculptures for the planned Elbe bridge. With the design Three Men Fighting Against the Wind , Steffen won first prize. The chaos of war prevented the work of art from being realized. Steffen refused to be called up for the Volkssturm in 1945.

New beginning

After the war, Steffen was elected to the Hamburg Cultural Council for denazification and appointed to the art commission of the cultural authority. He officiated until 1952 as a teacher and manager of the art school Der Baukreis , which he had co-founded. It was intended as a workshop community and educational institution for all arts . Since the school board wanted to use the building for its own purposes, had the Baukreis be set 1,953th Steffen was one of the co-founders of the Professional Association of Visual Artists (BBK) and joined the Hamburg art community . From East Berlin he was invited to travel to the GDR . In 1958 he received the Edwin Scharff Prize from the Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Because of his poor health, he was unable to carry out heavy stone carving work. He made clay and plaster models based on his drawings. The heavy work was done by the sculptor Hans Twesten and his former student Ullrich Beier. In 1964, Steffen's bronze sculpture “Der Redner” was placed in front of the honor grove of Hamburg resistance fighters in the Ohlsdorf cemetery - in 1977 it had to be reported as stolen.

Some of his works can still be seen in the Hamburg cityscape:

• Rowing group and girl dance (1953) Wall reliefs clinker brick, 2-part district office Hamburg-Nord entrance hall

• Man with child in front of the Kaifu-Bad on Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer
• Mermaid in front of the fishing port restaurant
• Mother and child , bronze sculpture (1964) in front of the Langenhorner Chaussee 321 day-care center in Hamburg-Langenhorn
• The speaker bronze sculpture (1968) on the Memorial Grove of Hamburg Resistance Fighters on the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof (grid square K 5, opposite the cemetery museum), original and copy were stolen, current version (2015) made of concrete by Hammond-Norden / Beppler.

Richard Steffen died in Hamburg in 1964, his grave is in the Ohlsdorf cemetery , grid square BM 59 (south of Prökelmoorteich ).

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  Construction circle signet

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  Richard Steffen's grave, Ohlsdorf cemetery

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  Die Schreitende approx. 1962 (private property)

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  The Speaker 1964 (stolen)

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  Girls dance 1953

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  Rowing group 1953

literature

• Maike Bruhns : Art in the Crisis , Dölling and Galitz-Verlag, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-933374-93-6
• Kay Rump family (ed.): Der Neue Rump / Lexicon of Hamburg's visual artists , 2nd edition, Wachholtz-Verlag, Neumünster / Hamburg 2013, p. 442/43, ISBN 978-3-529-02792-5

Web links

Commons : Richard Steffen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marion Reinisch (Ed.): On the big road. Jean Weidt's memories. Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1984
2. ^ Metal thefts at Förderkreis Ohlsdorfer Friedhof
3. ↑ Object No. 33 at the Langenhorn Archive
4. ↑ Image of the Steffen bronze sculpture and the successor figure ( memento of the original from July 31, 2017 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. made of sculptured concrete from Hammond-Norden / Beppler (2015) 
5. ↑ Grave location