Senta Baldamus

Senta Baldamus (born October 14, 1920 in Breslau ( province of Upper Silesia ), † January 26, 2001 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor whose main activity was in Berlin.

Life

Senta Baldamus, who comes from the Hildebrandt family from Schöneberg in Berlin , studied sculpture at the art academies in Munich and Berlin . In 1950 she moved to Berlin-Pankow and set up a studio here. From the 1950s onwards, the artist created numerous portrait busts, fountain sculptures and bronze figures; she also illustrated books by her spouse, the physician Ulrich Baldamus. Most of the works are in public spaces in Berlin such as Tierpark Berlin or in front of cultural or educational institutions. In 1991 Senta Baldamus became blind as a result of a progressive illness and had to give up her job.

Senta Baldamus was married and had two daughters - Ulrike and Dietlind, both also married in the meantime - and a son Jürgen.

Factory overview (selection)

Karl Foerster memorial in the Tierpark Berlin

Youth of the world in Berlin-Karlshorst

• Erich Weinert , plaster model for bronze bust (1951)
• Knabenakt , bronze (1956), Berlin-Biesdorf in the Kulturpark
• Abstract figure , stone (1957)
• Bronze busts for Karl Foerster (1961–1974), Peter Joseph Lenné (1964), Charles Darwin and Carl von Linné - in the Berlin Zoo
• Spring Fountain in the Temple of Lenné (1961–1964)
• female nudes - in the zoo
• The Agitator , bronze (1967), Anemonenstraße, in front of the Flatow-Gymnasium in Berlin-Köpenick
• Reading (group sculpture), bronze (1971) in Berlin-Altglienicke , Rudower Chaussee 81, owned by the Upper School Center for Construction / Wood
• Relay runner , bronze (1975), Leipzig , Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Allee, forecourt of the Sports Science Faculty of the University of Leipzig (former Sports Medicine Institute of the German University for Physical Culture)
• Youth of the World , also called Solidarity or Friendship of Nations , a 3.38 meter high bronze group (1978–1982), consisting of three men and two young women. Location Berlin-Karlshorst , Römerweg / corner Treskowallee, in front of the student dormitory of the former University of Economics . The five young people symbolize the five (inhabited) continents of the earth, because they wear typical clothing or have the corresponding physiognomy .
• Leisure and joy of life , (group sculpture) bronze / concrete (1988), in Berlin-Baumschulenweg , Neue Krugallee 142
• Joy of life , 4 meter bronze sculpture of a naked dancing couple, in the garden of the Kronprinzenpalais (Berlin) ' Unter den Linden , Berlin-Mitte
• Sportswoman with tires , 2.80 meters tall cast bronze (without tires, in Kienbaum Sports School)
• Handball players, 2.30 meters tall, bronze, culture park at the town hall in Neubrandenburg
• Workers' Conversation , Bronze (1981), initially on the Segelfliegerdamm in Berlin-Treptow, after 1990 transferred to Berlin-Reinickendorf , Holzhauser Strasse 165
• Fountain of Youth (1975–1999) on Prerower Platz in Berlin-Neu-Hohenschönhausen

History of the Well of Youth

Fountain of youth in Berlin-Neu-Hohenschönhausen with figures by Senta Baldamus

Children's figures at the fountain of youth

In 1975, the city ​​administration of Schwerin commissioned Senta Baldamus to build a fountain for young people , which was to be set up on Schwerin's market square. The artist made a draft of what she regards as the crowning glory of her previous artistic work: a mother figure in flowing robes as a pedestal sculpture is surrounded by eight children playing. The group of figures, reminiscent of Baroque representations , should stand in the middle of a large stone water bowl. The first four bronze sculptures were made until some time after the fall of the Wall , including the central 2.00 m high female figure, and were temporarily stored in a shed in Schwerin. Due to the new function of the city of Schwerin as the capital of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Marktbrunnen project was first shut down and finally abandoned because the money originally planned was now needed for other tasks. Senta Baldamus then turned to the interest group Partners for Berlin in order to win both new donors and new interested parties for the installation of the fountain:

“As a Berliner, I would of course prefer Berlin. […] I can imagine the location in front of a public building, an inner courtyard or a park. But I would also have no objection to another city. The main thing is that the well is ready at all. [...] I am very tough. When I'm attached to one thing, I fight to the last. "

The Berlin marketing company won the Lichtenberg-Hohenschönhausen district office as the new owner of the entire well project. In February 1998 in the Linden-Center shopping center in Berlin-Neu-Hohenschönhausen , the figures and the project sketch were exhibited. A simultaneous exhibition on Senta Baldamus, at the opening of which the artist herself was present, made the issue and all previous work known to a broad public. The Foundation for the Social Pedagogical Institute Berlin was finally won as the client and sponsor for the fountain and around 600,000  euros were made available from the Senate funding program "Living Environment Improvement 99". A metal workshop cast the remaining 1.20 m children's figures, which were previously only available as plaster models, for around 40,000 euros and the stonemason company Buchholzer Naturstein made the twelve-ton granite fountain bowl with a diameter of three meters. In September 2002 all parts of the Well of Youth were ready. They found a representative location on the newly created town square Wartenberger- / Wustrower Straße.

literature

• Visual Arts magazine 1/1975: District art exhibition Neubrandenburg / Schwerin / Rostock / Gera / Magdeburg / Dresden. Senta Baldamus. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff ...
• Ursel Berger, Josephine Gabler, Marc Wellmann (eds.): Sculpture in Berlin
• Gerhard Lehmann u. a .: German University for Physical Culture Leipzig 1950–1990 ; Meyer & Meyer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89899-286-2
• Catalog Plastic and Flowers 1969. Exhibition in Treptower Park. USSR - GDR . Ed. Association of Germany's Visual Artists, Bez. Berlin, Council of the Treptow District; Berlin, 1969

Web links

Commons : Senta Baldamus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature with Senta Baldamus in the catalog of the German National Library
• Database sculpture in Berlin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Studies in Munich and Berlin - biographical issues . Berliner Zeitung , February 18, 1998; Retrieved November 7, 2009.
2. ↑ Ulrich Baldamus: Knowledge helps prevent. Illustrations by Senta Baldamus-Hildebrandt. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1959
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Birgit Kaulich: Blind sculptor is looking for a buyer for a fountain. Senta Baldamus has been working on her life's work for 23 years / in 1991 she lost her sight ; Article in the Berliner Zeitung on February 18, 1998; Retrieved November 7, 2009.
4. ^ Obituary notice in the Berliner Zeitung from January 26, 2001
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Sale lots of works of art - offers at eArt ; Retrieved November 7, 2009
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Directory of works of art in public space - Treptow-Köpenick district. (PDF; 9.4 MB) Berlin, accessed on August 8, 2019 . 
7. ↑ From "Art on the Path" ; Retrieved November 7, 2009
8. ^ Sylvia Brösicke-Istok, Gabriele Ivan, Romy Köcher, Hans Schlegel: sculptures, monuments and fountains in Lichtenberg , catalog 1993. Luisenstädt. Educational Association, Berlin; P. 40
9. ↑ From "Art on the Path" ; Retrieved November 7, 2009
10. ^ Information from the Senate Department for Urban Development on the Baldamus Fountain with technical details
11. ↑ Marcel Gäding: The fountain bowl is already there ; in: Berliner Zeitung of August 16, 2002; Retrieved November 7, 2009
12. ↑ Homepage Sculpture in Berlin ( Memento of the original from June 5, 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. ; Retrieved November 7, 2009 
13. ↑ Urban development company with details on the youth fountain ( memento of November 7, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 7, 2009, accessed again on January 18, 2016.