Walther Kieser

Nikolaus Karl Walther Kieser (born August 27, 1894 in Krefeld , † November 12, 1947 in Dessau ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Walther Kieser was born as the eldest son of Richard Markus Kieser (1870–1940) and his first wife Helene Kieser. Wiesner born in Krefeld. Four more children followed Walter, including Elisabeth (* 1896), Martha (* 1898), Helene (* 1902) and Harry (1908–1978). In 1906 the family moved to Bad Warmbrunn when their father took over the management of the Bad Warmbrunn wood carving school . After graduating from school, Walter learned the woodworking trade from 1912 at the school that his father ran from 1907 to 1912 . This was followed by art studies in Dresden , which he could not continue due to the outbreak of the First World War. Kieser did military service on the Western Front during World War I. After the end of the war, he stayed briefly in Stuttgart before returning to his parents in Dessau.

In Dessau he met the artist Friede Maruhn (1885–1947), nine years his senior, who came from Nedlitz in Anhalt. From 1919 Kieser and Friede Maruhn worked in a joint workshop in Dessau and supported each other. Kieser mainly created large sculptures, while Friede Maruhn designed small and medium-sized animal sculptures. Kieser is said to have an artistic proximity to the work of Adolf von Hildebrand . The couple married in 1921. The following year, on June 15, 1922, their son Dieter Richard (called Dietrich) was born in Dessau.

Kieser also achieved his artistic breakthrough in 1921 with the Boelcke and war memorial on the cemetery of honor in Dessau , which he created together with the architect Albin Müller . Both artists designed the “creation” on both sides of the monument in completely different ways. Numerous follow-up orders followed this order.

On October 14, 1925, the artist couple founded Waldkaterkeramik GmbH in Dessau. The ceramics workshop was located in Kienfichten 2. Among other things, animal sculptures were made, which were also placed in the surrounding settlement. The products of Waldkaterkeramik GmbH became known and distributed throughout Germany.

On September 25, 1932, Kieser's mother Helene died of a stroke. The father Richard Markus Kieser also died on January 25, 1940 in Dessau. In 1944 Walter and Friede lost their only child, Dietrich, who died as a soldier in World War II.

Friede Kieser-Maruhn died in January 1947 at the age of 62. Kieser first tried to rebuild the workshop that was completely destroyed in World War II. In November 1947, however, he also died at the age of only 53.

Kieser's work can be found in various places and on buildings in Dessau and the surrounding area.

plant

Before the start

• 1921: Boelcke and war memorial in the cemetery of honor in Dessau (together with Albin Müller)
• 1924: Monument to the fallen in the town church in Oranienbaum (together with Friede Kieser-Maruhn)
• East wall of the Christ Church in Ziebigk in honor of the fallen soldiers of the First World War
• Group of people for the sculpture "Peasant Couple Feeding Animals" in Dessau
• Bear group at the weather station at Friedensplatz in Dessau
• 1928: Bronze bust in the vestibule of the administration building of Junkers-Werke in Dessau, Junkersstraße 35 (demolished)
• 1940: Figure “Before the start” in the craftsmen's quarter in Dessau

literature

• Waldkater pottery. From the workshop of the Dessau artist family Kieser / Maruhn. Exhibition catalog, Association for Culture and History in Anhalt Dessau e. V., Dessau 2011.

Web links

Commons : artist family Kieser-Maruhn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files