Viktor Tilgner

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Viktor Tilgner, lithograph by Adolf Dauthage 1881

Viktor Oskar Tilgner (born October 25, 1844 in Pressburg , † April 16, 1896 in Vienna ) was an Austrian sculptor and portraitist . He is the main representative of neo-baroque within the sculpture of the Vienna Ringstrasse .

Life

Victor Tilgner was born as the son of Captain Carl and Ida Tilgner in Pressburg, but moved to Vienna as a child and has been associated with this city ever since. His interest and talent was recognized very early by the sculptor Franz Schönthaler , who also became his first teacher.

At the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna he began to study with Franz Bauer , but soon switched to the Tyrolean sculptor Josef Gasser , who aroused “baroque” interest through his proximity to sculptures of saints in Tilgner and introduced him to practical work. At the same time, the medalist Joseph Daniel Böhm introduced him to the art of chasing .

Viktor Tilgner's realistic academicism was influenced by Hans Makart , a leading painter of the Ringstrasse epoch, with whom he also toured Italy in 1874. The sculptor also had contact with Johann Strauss and belonged to the circle of artists around Karl Graf Lanckoronski . He was also strongly influenced by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Gustave Deloye , who came to Vienna in 1873 as part of the World Exhibition .

Viktor Tilgner's grave in Vienna's central cemetery

Viktor Tilgner had his studio for more than the last 20 years in a side wing of the Palais Schwarzenberg , formerly used as a greenhouse , Heugasse 1 (today: Prinz-Eugen-Straße  1), Vienna-Landstraße ; the artist's apartment was closest to Wohllebengasse  1, Vienna-Wieden .

Tilgner, who, despite a heart condition that had been noticeable for some time, stayed in the Bauhütte at the Mozart monument the day before his death , died on the morning of April 16, 1896, of a heart attack in his apartment . One day after his death, the doctor agreed to the wish that the deceased had during his lifetime for a sudden death to have a heart attack . On April 18, 1896, after the first consecration in the (overcrowded) Karlskirche , the conductor made a stopover at the Wiener Künstlerhaus , where its chairman Julius Deininger (1852-1924) and Rudolf Weyr (1847-1914), Club der Plastiker , spoke farewell, afterwards Viktor Tilgner was buried in the presence of his widow, Marianne, and his brother, Oskar, in a grave of honor at the Vienna Central Cemetery. On October 3, 1897, Tilgner was quietly reburied in a grave of honor in Vienna's central cemetery (group 14 A, number 28). The grave monument placed on this occasion had been commissioned by the widow from the employees of Tilgner's studio as their last work and was based on a sketch once made by the deceased.

Works

Bishop Heiller
Holly funerary monument
Viktor Silberer
Ganymede Fountain in Bratislava
Francis by Paula Schönborn
Gladiator and defeated slave
Portrait bust of the architect Carl Gangolf Kaiser
Viktor Tilgner's Bruckner monument in Vienna's Stadtpark , as it was in 1908

The monument to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna's Burggarten is considered Tilgner's main work and at the same time was his last. It was originally created for the square in front of the Albertina . The moving putti figures on the pedestal, which represent the power of Mozart's music, already hint at Art Nouveau style . It was revealed a few days after Tilgner's death.

His other work included building sculptures for the court museums, the Burgtheater , the Neue Hofburg and the Hermesvilla as well as several fountains (Tilgner fountain in the Volksgarten , 1877), monuments ( Werndl monument in Steyr , 1894) and some grave monuments. He was also known for his portrait busts (including Pedro Calderón de la Barca , Shakespeare , Molière , Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , Friedrich Hebbel , Franz Grillparzer and Friedrich Halm for the Burgtheater) and many medallions .

Most of Tilgner's estate went to his hometown and can now be seen in the Bratislava City Gallery . His works adorn all important buildings on Vienna's Ringstrasse and other squares.

Sculpture group for The Equitable

The American insurance company The Equitable Life Insurancy Company (now AXA- Equitable), founded in 1859, expanded to Europe and Australia in the 1890s. Five modern and magnificent buildings were erected in the centers of the following metropolises (1891 in Vienna, Madrid and Berlin, 1895 in Sydney and 1896 in Melbourne), for the decoration of the main portals a representative sculpture was sought. The choice fell on the sculptor Victor Tilgner, who was very well known in Vienna at the time (probably also because the design comes from the Austrian architect Edward E. Raht ), who chose a group of three people for his sculpture. In the middle the so-called Equitable , which resembles a Roman midwife and who holds her arms protectively over a child on the left and a woman with a newborn on the right. The names of the work are in German "Equitable, Schützerin der Armen und orphaned", in English "Charity being kind to the poor" and in Spanish "La caridad se compadece de los pobres."

The sculptures were made 5 times in the Arthur Krupp Berndorfer Metallwarenfabrik (nephew of Alfred Krupp ) in bronze . There are currently four groups: in Vienna and Sydney at their original locations ( Palais Equitable on Stock-im-Eisen-Platz) and in Sydney ( City Recital Hall on George Str.). The statues in Melbourne (originally Equitable Building on the corner of Collins and Elizabeth Stasse, then donated to the School of Architecture at the Mount Martha in 1959 and erected in the South Lawn Carpark since 1981) and in Madrid (originally Palacio de la Equitativa corner of Seville and Alcala Street, since 1921 on Campillo del Mundo Nuevo square) changed their location several times. No information can be found about the statue that was intended for Berlin. It is also not known whether it ever reached its destination. ( Equitable-Palast on the corner of Friedrich and Leipziger Strasse. Completely destroyed in World War II)

Statue in Madrid with wrong inscription

An anecdote about the statue in Madrid: After the American insurance company withdrew from Spain in 1916, the building fell into the hands of the Spanish bank Banesto , which donated the sculpture to the municipality of Madrid at the end of 1920. At this point in time, the origin of this group must have been forgotten and in search of the author, the signature of the Arthur Krupp Berndorfer Metallwarenfabrik foundry was discovered on the statue and incorrectly assumed that A. Krupp was the artist. A subsequent transcription error (ru = ni) in the surname led to the fact that the non-existent German sculptor A. Knipp is mentioned as the creator of the work on the notice board on the base.

gallery

Awards

  • 1868: Court award and scholarship
  • 1868: Füger Medal
  • 1874: Karl Ludwig Medal
  • 1874: Gold medal in Munich (for the bust of Joseph von Führich )
  • 1880: Reichel Prize (for the Triton and Nymph fountain group)
  • 1882: Large Gold Medal Vienna (for the Amorino auf Delphin fountain group)
  • 1883: Professor title
  • 1888: Honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • 1891: Large gold medal and honorary diploma from Munich (for the putti fountain)
  • 1897: Tilgnerstrasse in Vienna- Wieden , 4th district.
  • 1928: Tilgnergasse in Vienna- Liesing , 23rd district.
  • 1970: Tilgnerova (ulica) in Karlova Ves , prefabricated building district in the west of Bratislava .

literature

Web links

Commons : Viktor Tilgner  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludwig Hevesi : Victor Tilgner's selected works. Vienna 1897.
  2. ↑ a b † Victor Tilgner (1844-1896). In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 11368/1896, April 17, 1896, p. 5 f. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  3. ↑ Lehmann's General Apartment Gazette . Volume 1896.2. Hölder, Vienna 1896, p. 1119. - Online .
  4. ↑ † Sculptor Victor Tilgner. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 11367/1896, April 16, 1896, p. 2 f. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  5. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Victor Tilgner. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 11369/1896, April 18, 1896, p. 1, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  6. ^ Tilgner's funeral. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 11370/1896, April 19, 1896, p. 7, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  7. ↑ Hedwig Abraham: Prof. Victor Tilgner . In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed on July 16, 2012.
  8. ↑ Local report. (...) The grave of honor for Victor Tilgner. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 11893/1897, October 1, 1897, p. 6, center right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  9. ↑ Otto Biba: "- I speak in my tones": for Johannes Brahms, 1833–1897. [Catalog ... on the occasion of the exhibition ... in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, September 5th-2nd November 1997], p. 60.
  10. ↑ madridafondo.blogspot.com.es
  11. ↑ alexmadrid.es
personal data
SURNAME Tilgner, Viktor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tilgner, Viktor Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Pressburg
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1896
Place of death Vienna