Theodor Kärner

Theodor Kärner (born January 10, 1884 in Hohenberg an der Eger , † September 6, 1966 in Munich ) was a German porcelain maker and animal sculptor .

From 1898–1903, Kärner completed an apprenticeship as a modeller at Hutschenreuther . He then attended the sculpture class of Heinrich Waderé (1865–1950) and the class for decorative sculpture by Anton Pruska (1846–1930) at the Royal Bavarian School of Applied Arts in Munich. Between 1914 and 1921 he was with the animal painter Heinrich von Zügel (1850-1941) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich as a guest auditor, and later enrolled in evening classes.

From 1905 to 1918 he worked as a permanent sculptor in the porcelain manufactory Nymphenburg in Munich, then between 1918 and 1934 as a freelancer at the Rosenthal company in Selb.

"Windspiel" 1921 for Rosenthal

In 1917 Philipp Rosenthal (1855–1937) bought the porcelain factory in Bahnhof-Selb. Although belonging to the AG, it initially remained the private property of the company owner. Around 1922, the production of artificial and decorative porcelain began in full. From this point on, Theodor Kärner's permanent collaboration can be expected. It is very likely that it lasted well beyond 1934, although the sculptor had already given notice of termination from the main factory in Selb.

He was then employed as artistic director in the Allach porcelain factory until 1945. At that time, the Allach porcelain factory was already an SS company with a Dachau branch . Theodor Kärner was elevated to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer honorary there. On April 20, 1938 he was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1940 he took part in the Great German Art Exhibition in the " House of German Art " in Munich. At the exhibition German Artists and the SS in 1944 in Breslau , a “Malachowsky Hussar” was exhibited by him.

As part of the denazification he was interned in the Moosbach camp from 1945 to 1947. After his release, Kärner was head of the art department of the Eduard Haberländer porcelain factory in Windischeschenbach from 1947 to 1953. There part of the collection from Allach was taken over and continued to be produced. Rosenthal employed Theodor Kärner again as a freelancer in 1953 and in the same year took over the art department from Windischeschenbach with all Allacher Kärner models that were made there until the art department in Selb was closed.

Theodor Kärner currently knows: 88 models for Nymphenburg, 114 models for Rosenthal and 51 models for Allach.

literature

• Gerhard P. Woeckel: The Bavarian animal sculptor Theodor Kärner . In: Renate Lotz; Wilhelm Siemen (Ed.): Theodor Kärner: 1884 - 1966; Memorial exhibition for his 100th birthday . Museum of the German Porcelain industry, Hohenberg / Eger 1984, ISBN 3-927793-02-7 , p. 11–38 (publications and catalogs of the Museum of the German Porcelain Industry ; 3).