Paths to Art

Paths to Art is a sculpture path in Schwäbisch Gmünd-Straßdorf that was set up in 2002 and has been continuously expanded since then.

The sculptures are located on the plateau north of Straßdorf to the right and left of the L1075 state road leading to Schwäbisch Gmünd against the backdrop of the Albtraufs. Only works by sculptors from the Gmünd area are considered. The sponsor of the project is the FörderVerein Straßdorf eV The path is around 3.5 kilometers long, with a walking time of around one and a half hours.

The open air exhibition includes:

Ecce me - there I am , Max Seiz , cast bronze, 2002
The sculpture appears like a Greek kouros . Seiz wrote: "As a free person I am bound to the universe, connected to the land - integrated with you and yet a free person." The Latin Ecce me! literally translated means See me! in the sense of Here I am! or there I am!

See the dawn in the east , Eckhart Dietz , Edelstahlguss, 2002
The sculptor remembers the ornithological studies in his youth. The figure goes in the direction of Rechberg , the view to the rising sun to the east to the Rosenstein .

Daphne , Josef Baumhauer, Bronzeguss, 2002
Daphne , a nymph, turns into a tree to evade the intrusive god Apollon .

Shepherdess , Fritz Nuss , cast bronze, 1978
The figure is reminiscent of the vast Strassdorf sheep pastures.

Stele , Rolf Haug, concrete casting, around 1965
Almost completely blinded by a war injury, Rolf Haug (* 1922 in Schwäbisch Gmünd; † 2001 ibid) found his own form of expression, especially in the abstract implementation of his image of man. He lived in Straßdorf and refused to go public with exhibitions.

Girl , Jakob Wilhelm Fehrle , bronze casting, 1952

The entrusted pounds , Paulamaria Walter, concrete relief, 1963
The relief thematizes the parable of the entrusted talents and has been on a facade of the regional central bank branch in Villingen-Schwenningen, which was demolished in 2001, since 1963 .

Age , Adolf Bidlingmaier, Muschelkalkrelief, 1939
The Muschelkalkrelief by Adolf Bidlingmaier (* 1905 in Schwäbisch Gmünd; † 1945) has been on the facade of the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg building at Königsstraße 5 in Stuttgart, which was demolished in 2006, since 1939 . To build the 30-ton plastic, a foundation and a back wall made of 60 tons of concrete were required.

Seated lion , Eugen Greiner, stone sculpture, around 1935 (copy 2013)
Eugen Greiner (* 1891 in Schwäbisch Gmünd; † 1944 ibid) was an outspoken animal lover, which is also reflected in his many largely naturalistic animal sculptures. Another lion is located in the city garden (Schwäbisch Gmünd) .

Sitting girl , Albert Holl, stone sculpture, 1932 (copy 2014)
The artist, born in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1890, received his decisive sculptural impulses at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in 1911/12. He taught at the State Higher Technical School for the Precious Metals Industry , today Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Design.

Pilgrim , Daniel Wagenblast , Aluguss, 2013
The figure stood in the grounds of the Schwäbisch Gmünd State Horticultural Show 2014 on loan on Josefsbach next to the city villa at Parlerstraße 12. It is reminiscent of a pilgrimage from Schwäbisch Gmünder Heilig-Kreuz-Münster (on the left arm of the sculpture ) past the Strassdorf Marienkapelle (on the right arm) to the Marienkirche on the Rechberg, which the people of Gmünd undertook in 1945 thanks to the fact that their city was largely spared from the Second World War . Münster, Marienkapelle and Rechberg can be seen from the sculpture, which was created especially for this location.

Marienkapelle , Baroque building, 1719
The Marienkapelle is integrated into the sculpture path and is intended to be a cross-reference to other sacred buildings in Straßdorf: The old parish church of St. Cyriakus near the cemetery, which is Romanesque, and the new parish church of St. Cyriakus , designed by Hans Herkommer in 1913–1915 was built in the Art Nouveau style.