Rolf Szymanski

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Fat hen in front of the entrance to the Britzer Garten in Berlin-Neukölln

Rolf Szymanski (born October 22, 1928 in Leipzig ; † December 2, 2013 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Szymanski was trained by Alfred Thiele at the Leipzig School of Applied Arts from 1945 to 1950 , then he studied at the Berlin School of Fine Arts with Bernhard Heiliger , Richard Scheibe and Paul Dierkes until 1955 . In 1961 he married Gisela Rieffert . In 1962 he received a grant for a nine-month stay at the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo . As early as 1964 he took part in documenta III in Kassel and at the same time received a scholarship for a 9-month stay in Florence , where his daughter Tekla Szymanski was born, as a winner of the Villa Romana Prize . In 1968 Szymanski was a fellow of the Cité Internationale des Arts for almost a year in Paris. Since 1961, Szymanski had a large number of solo exhibitions across Germany and also took part in group exhibitions such as the Biennale di Venezia in 1990. Numerous works are in public spaces in Germany. The artist lived in Berlin.

Together with HAP Grieshaber , he founded the Jerg Ratgeb Prize , which was first awarded in 1977. From 1986 to 1996 Szymanski held a professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts . Since 1970 he has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin . From 1974 to 1983, and then again from 1986, Szymanski was director of the academy's fine arts department and vice-president (1983–1986) under Günter Grass . Between 1997 and 1999, Rolf Szymanski was a board member of the German Association of Artists , and from 1960 to 1997 he took part in its annual exhibitions a total of thirteen times as a full member. In 1999 Szymanski became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts .

Rolf Szymanski died on December 2, 2013 in Berlin after a serious illness. His grave is in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend (grave location: II-W1-2 / 3). He rests there by the side of his wife Gisela Szymanski nee. Rieffert (1933-2007). A sculpture designed by Szymanski himself serves as a grave monument.

Works (selection)

Rolf Szymanski was a representative of an abstracting style that never completely forgot the figurative. Szymanski's main theme was the female figure. His acts are symbolic of vitality, growth, but also destruction. Szymanski himself described his activity as the work of building, destroying, bundling, tensioning, detours, up to the point at which the desired image, the imagined mass, functions spatially and gives off life.

gallery

literature

  • Exhibition catalogs
  • Rolf Szymanski, sculptures and drawings, Kunstverein Braunschweig , Braunschweig 1966.
  • Rolf Szymanski, and Walter Stöhrer , Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 1989
  • Lexikon der Kunst, Dörflerverlag, Volume 11 Edition 1987
  • Art in public space. Sculpture Boulevard , Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-496-01039-8 .
  • Rolf Szymanski, sculptures and drawings 1956 to 1988, Gerd Hatje publishing house
  • Birgit Jooss : Postcard from Rolf Szymanski to Emil Cimiotti . In: Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Edited by G. Ulrich Großmann, Nürnberg 2013, pp. 311–312.
  • Veit Stiller, Ansbach a story. Rolf Szymanski in Ansbach, Kabinettdruck 44 Edition Brusberg, Berlin 2012
  • Inge Zimmermann on behalf of the Akademie der Künste (ed.): Akademiefenster 9: Rolf Szymanski, AdK, Archive, Berlin 2013

Web links

Commons : Rolf Szymanski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Exhibitions since 1951 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. (accessed on April 16, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuenstlerbund.de
  2. ↑ a b Ingeborg Ruthe: A lump of metal that weighs life. On the death of the Berlin sculptor and Academy Vice-President Rolf Szymanski. In: Berliner Zeitung , December 4, 2013, p. 24.
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 495.
  4. ^ Art in the City. 5: Between Georgsplatz and Andreaeplatz. , Leaflet from the cultural office, City of Hanover. Editors: Anneke Schepke, Mona Windmann. Text: Thomas Kaestle. Hanover, 2010. Download from hannover.de
personal data
SURNAME Szymanski, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 2013
Place of death Berlin