Theodor Sternberg

Theodor Sternberg (born November 13, 1891 in Trier , † November 5, 1963 in Duisburg ) was a German painter and graphic artist .

Life

Theodor Sternberg came from a family of artists in Trier. In his father's workshop, he got to know the work of a church painter early on . In 1908 he went to Ratingen near Düsseldorf and passed the teacher examination there in 1912. During this time he came into contact with the Düsseldorf School of Painting . Until 1936 he worked as a primary school teacher in Duisburg. Ostensibly forced out of office by the National Socialists "for health reasons", he concentrated on his artistic work. But as an avowed Catholic, he was repeatedly subjected to reprisals during the Nazi era and had to fear imprisonment. Rehabilitation did not take place after the war either. Sternberg fought for it until his death in 1963.

Even before his “compulsory retirement”, Sternberg had worked as an artist in addition to his professional activity, after which he practiced this profession full-time. He mainly created sacred art. As a graphic artist, he also documented contemporary life in the industrial and port city of Duisburg. The first graphic works (pen drawings) were created around 1909. Etchings and oil paintings followed. preferred landscape motifs from the Lower Rhine around Duisburg, a few also from Trier and the Eifel. At times he had his own postcard publisher. Religious motifs from the Catholic Church were often used as models. In the thirties he created altars and memorial plaques for some churches on the Rhine and Moselle. He engraved in bronze and brought his sculptures created in this way to the effect of a flat relief. In their effect they are reminiscent of icon painting. Much of his work is now in private hands.

Works (under construction)

• St. Josef in Duisburg-Wedau
• Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Leverkusen
• House chapel in the former teacher's house in Rhöndorf
• Chapel in Mülheim (Moselle)
• High altar of St. Hippolytus in Troisdorf (1947)
• Jerusalem altarpiece in the Chapel of Körrig (1909)

Publications

• Reproductions of an image of the Virgin Mary (Pièta) and the former portal of the main city cemetery in Trier. In: Kur-Trier 6 (1922) 45 and 87;
• Heinrich Schmitz: Angermunder country and people . With illustrations by Theodor Sternberg. Duisburg 1926.

literature

• Michael Gdanietz: Theodor Sternberg . In: Monz, Heinz (Ed.): Trier Biographical Lexicon. Trier 2000. - ISBN 3-88476-400-4 .

Web links

• Entry on Theodor Sternberg in the Rhineland-Palatinate personal database
• About the pen drawing of the portal of the Trier main cemetery
• Altar in St. Hippolytus, Troisdorf (1947)
• Request to name a street in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth after the artist