Walter Gerteis

Walter Gerteis (born April 6, 1921 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † November 17, 1999 ) was a German officer and sculptor who worked mainly in Achern .

Life

Walter Gerteis' first "exhibition" he had at the age of five: African animal figures he had made from plasticine were exhibited in the window of a Freiburg toy store, Gerteis was rewarded with additional modeling clay and gifts. In the Acher and Bühler Bote he later said: "There were never toys the way I wanted them to be, so I modeled myself."

However, due to the World War and military service, artistic training had to wait for a while, and he was drafted. But a study leave in 1941 led him to the Karlsruhe Art Academy in Otto Schießler's class . According to his own statement, it was there that he began to become a sculptor. After the winter semester he had to go back to the front. Due to an injury, he returned home in 1943 and contacted the Dresden Art Academy. Until 1947 he was in a French prisoner of war camp, where he worked as an artist and made missing tools himself. French officers gave him orders and paid him with groceries that ensured his survival.

In the 1950s he got a few jobs, but his financial situation became less satisfactory due to the "economic miracle" and he decided to join the Bundeswehr . Between 1956 and 1978 he was an active officer. But on weekends and on vacation he continued to pursue art. In 1968 he came to Achern and settled there. Until 1968 he was site commander of the Bundeswehr garrison in the local Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden barracks. For the last few years in the service of the German Armed Forces, he was a department head in the staff of the Territorial Command South in Stuttgart and Heidelberg . In 1978 he was retired and stayed in Achern for good. He maintained a studio in Sasbach until 1989 . Some of his works can still be seen in this community. There he restored z. B. the "Saint Brigitta", a wooden relief from 1453, and a cemetery cross from 1547.

During the construction of the new station in Achern, he received an order from Deutsche Bahn . There he visualized the history of the Baden main line from 1843 to the completion of the relief made of terracotta bricks in 1993: the first locomotive through Achern, revolutionaries from 1848, soldier in the First World War , the destroyed Rhine bridge near Strasbourg , signal keeper and an ICE .

plant

Gerwigbrunnen in the Gerwigstrasse in Karlsruhe

(Selection)

• Relief portrait of the " Türkenlouis " at the entrance of the Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden barracks, Achern, 1968
• Glass concrete wall Volksbank Sasbach, 1968
• Gerwig fountain in Karlsruhe , 1987
• Heinrich Hertz memorial plaque for the Südwestfunk
• “Hansel, Gretel and the witch in front of the Knusperhäuschen”, Achern, at the Burger-Götz toy store
• Bronze sculpture "Save the Creation" on Rathausplatz Achern, 1990
• Bubenbrunnen and Nixenbrunnen, Achern
• Fountain with a plum composition, Bühl
• Concrete relief in the Fautenbach pedestrian underpass, 1991
• Sculpture by the painter Toni Merz in front of today's Toni Merz Museum in Obersasbach, 1994
• Many medals such as the Theodor Heuss Medal, Simplizissimus Medal, medal for the "Achern Reading King"

Awards

• First prize in the international art competition “Soldier and Hobby” for his sculpture “Die Grubenesserin”, 1974

Exhibitions

• Retrospective in the Achern Bürgersaal, 1981
• "Walter Gerteis - a recognized artist is being forgotten", April 6th to April 29th 2011 in the Volksbank Achern, on the occasion of his 90th birthday

literature

Walter Gerteis, Life and Work , with an introduction by Wolfgang Winter. Acheron-Verlag, Achern 1996, ISBN 3-928207-30-X

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Leaving numerous traces in the city / An exhibition opened for the 90th birthday of the Achern sculptor Walter Gerteis , In: Acher and Bühler Bote from April 8, 2011