Rudolf Maison
Rudolf Friedrich Maison (born July 29, 1854 in Steinweg , † February 12, 1904 in Munich ) was a German sculptor of naturalism . His main works include the Famabrunnen in Herrenchiemsee Palace Park , the Centaurenbrunnen in Fürth , the Teichmannbrunnen in Bremen and the Kaiser Friedrich Monument in Berlin .
Live and act
Rudolf Maison, son of master joiner Karl Friedrich (1826–1904) and brewer's daughter Anna Ursula Reisinger (* 1815), first attended elementary school and from 1866/1867 the district trade school in Regensburg. He left this without a degree. He also began an apprenticeship as a carpenter, probably with his father. In 1868 the family moved to Munich-Neuhausen , the home of his grandfather Friedrich, a French native who worked here as a carpenter and carver. In 1869/1870 Maison took part in modeling courses with Johann von Halbig . From 1877 he studied architecture at the Munich Polytechnic , but had to drop out for financial reasons. In the following years he did his military service and then earned his living as a private teacher, draftsman and modeler for industry. He acquired the knowledge of sculpture independently. In 1879 he opened a studio for decorative work, architectural designs, modeling and portraits in Munich.
On August 29, 1881, he married Emma Teichtler (1856–1944), a private daughter from Weißenburg . In 1882 the economist's daughter and clothes maker Magdalena Mayr had an illegitimate son, Rudolf Karl, from him. A legitimate son was born on April 23, 1883, but died on the same day. In 1887 he was made honorary philistine of the Corps Transrhenania .
Rudolf Maison first tried himself as an architect. He finally found his calling as a sculptor by creating architectural models. In 1890 he rented a studio in Theresienstraße 148 in Munich. He made friends with the draftsman, painter and sculptor Franz von Stuck , the painters Julius Adam and Karl Raupp and the writer Eugen Croissant .
After Maison was noticed by the art-loving King Ludwig II of Bavaria at an exhibition and was commissioned by him with a voluminous Pegasus fountain for his new Herrenchiemsee Palace , Maison was able to choose his orders. In 1891, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria awarded him the title of "Royal Bavarian Professor ". In 1892 Maison was one of the 96 founding members of the Munich Secession , an association of visual artists that split off from the Munich Artists' Cooperative.
In 1931, the Munich art historian Alexander Heilmeyer named Maison one of the main people responsible for the decline of naturalism , because: “... when Maison modeled a horse, you could believe you were looking at a living horse. In the execution of his figures he tried every detail, every wrinkle, every wrinkle of the skin, in the case of fabrics, the exact structure of the fabric, everything he depicted as lifelike as possible ... ”This was by no means meant as praise. "In addition, Maison tried to enhance the lifelike impression with color". Heilmeyer also criticized the fact that Maison did not hesitate to compensate for stability problems with the help of tensioning and scaffolding . In a mixture of disgust and respect, Heilmeyer also brushed against the Teichmannbrunnen in Bremen , whose bronze main character Mercury only stood on the tiptoe of his left foot. However, contrary to expectations, this work from 1899 survived the first autumn storm. It was only lost in World War II .
Rudolf Maison cared little about the lack of recognition in the art business. He was very busy and one day surprised his colleagues at an exhibition with the sculpture Negro riding a donkey (1893), which he placed between all the solemn models of kings and military men, thus securing the audience's attention. In 1893 he took part in the world exhibition in Chicago and in 1900 in the world exhibition in Paris . In 1894 he received a small gold medal at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition . Many of his designs were carried out at the Viennese manufacture Friedrich Goldscheider .
In 1895 Maison became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Arts and later also of the Munich Art Academy and the Vienna Artists' Cooperative . In 1901 he received the Order of Merit of St. Michael 4th Class from Prince Regent Luitpold .
On February 12, 1904, Rudolf Maison died of a ruptured gastric ulcer. He was buried in Munich's Westfriedhof . His grave was cleared a few years ago and relocated (wall on the left - grave site 50). Maison's widow bequeathed around 40 models of his works to the city of Regensburg . They can be seen in the Historical Museum in Regensburg .
- Selection of bronze models in the Regensburg Historical Museum
Fleeing Teuton
Emperor Otto I.
Siegfried the Dragon Slayer
Wotan the father of gods
Other works
- Attack of a negro by a lion jumping from above
- 1890 Augur ; one stucco copy in the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin , two more in marble and bronze in the Berlinische Galerie
- 1890 Triton; colored bow figure made of wood of the saloon steamer Luitpold on Lake Starnberg ; exhibited today in the Starnberger See Museum
- Wotan on the raven throne, statuette, 1900, also as a seat image for the saga hall in Schreiberhau (lost)
- 1892 “Standing Mohr” in bronze, National Gallery Berlin, probably identical to African Athlete, 1902
- Figurative ornament for Paul Wallot's Reichstag building
- Allegorical figures vice / crime and innocence for the Palace of Justice in Munich
- around 1900 "The Bathers" in bronze, National Gallery Berlin
- Two heralds in front of the east portal of the Bremen town hall , presented at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, bought from the banker John Harjes and given to the city of Bremen. In addition, Harjes bought two mercenaries from Maison in 1903, which he also donated to the city. The latter were made of solid bronze and were melted down in favor of weapons production during World War II. Also in 1903, Harjes had the statue of John Harjes made from Carrara marble at Maison , which he bequeathed to the Kunsthalle Bremen that same year .
- The unveiling of his equestrian statue of the 99-day emperor Friedrich III. in front of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin on October 18, 1904, Maison did not live again; he died shortly before in Munich after a stomach operation.
gallery
The Fama fountain in the Herrenchiemsee palace gardens
Centaurenbrunnen in Fürth , a memorial for the first German railway (1835) and the establishment of the central water supply (1877)
Teichmann fountain in Bremen (destroyed)
Kaiser Friedrich Memorial in front of today's Bode Museum in Berlin (destroyed)
Model of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Monument
The two heralds in front of the Bremen town hall
Palace of Justice in Munich: innocence (left) and vice (right)
Johann Junkers monument in Krefeld
Negro riding a donkey in Gera
literature
- Peter Bloch : Ethos & Pathos. The Berlin School of Sculpture 1786–1914 . (Accompanying volume to the exhibition) Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1990.
- Klaus Friedl: Maison, Rudolph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 714 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Alexander Heilmayer: The sculpture of the 19th century in Munich . Knorr & Hirth, Munich 1931.
- Bernhard Maaz (Ed.): National Gallery Berlin. The XIX. Century. Inventory catalog of the sculptures, volume 1. EA Seemann, 2006.
- Robert E. Dechant, Filipp Goldscheider: Goldscheider. Company history and catalog raisonné. Historicism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, 1950s. Arnoldsche, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-89790-216-9 .
- Karin Geiger, Sabine Tausch (eds.): Rudolf Maison (1854–1904). Regensburg - Munich - Berlin. (Accompanying volume to the exhibition "Rudolf Maison - Sculptors for King, Emperor and other 'art-loving laypeople'" in the Historical Museum of the City of Regensburg from September 18, 2016 to April 2, 2017) (= Regensburg Studies and Sources on Art History , Volume 22. ) Regensburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-86845-138-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1930, 116 , 84
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maison, Rudolf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maison, Rudolf Friedrich (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 29, 1854 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Steinweg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 12, 1904 |
| Place of death | Munich |