Werner Franzen

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Werner Franzen bronze angel Maria Laach Abbey

Werner Franzen (born October 19, 1928 in Cond ; † December 9, 2014 in Bergisch Gladbach ) was a German sculptor and artist .

life and career

Werner Franzen's talent for drawing was recognized early on. In order to, as it is said, “not pursue the breadless art”, he first began an apprenticeship as a bricklayer and then became a civil engineer. As a result, he acquired extensive material knowledge that would later prove useful. In 1951 he began studying sculpture at the Werkkunstschule Trier . During his five-year studies, he learned nude and portrait drawing as a master student in the sculpture class of Paul Siegert and Michael Trierweiler. After successfully completing his studies, he went hiking in Germany and Switzerland for a few years . In 1959 he passed the master craftsman's examination as a sculptor and in 1960 started his own business as a freelance artist in North Rhine-Westphalia . From Cologne - Deutz , where he initially settled, he went to Schildgen ( Bergisch Gladbach ), where he and his wife Margret, whom he married in 1967, had three sons.

The four Cistercian reform abbots , Altenberg Cathedral

His Catholic roots - as a child he still wanted to be a painter or pastor - brought him to read the Bible and study the legends of the saints . A religious atmosphere, closely linked to the craftsmanship, allowed him to create many tombs in his early years , more than 30 of them in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne . At the beginning of his career it was only religious topics that he dealt with, but in the 1970s he began to devote himself to dress and nudes . Werner Franzen continued to develop, his sculptures should be "art you can touch" and the "process of creating a piece" should remain legible. Dr. phil. Christian Eschweiler writes: "His bronzes do not tear apart an apartment, garden or park, they fit in organically and harmoniously everywhere, so that it is a pleasure to encounter them".

Werner Franzen: Paper Maker

Works of art (selection)

  • Florian and Christoph , two bronzes on stone
  • Two spitters , life-size plastic in the Wiesbaden city ​​park
  • Bronze angel at the entrance to Maria Laach Abbey , 1999
  • The paper maker on Konrad-Adenauer-Platz in front of Villa Zanders in Gladbach
  • Bronzes in Altenberg Cathedral : Bernhard von Clairvaux and St. Ursula on the side of the north portal, the amplexus (Latin for "embrace") in the north aisle and a group of four Cistercian abbots on the converse wing
  • Ecumenism. Bronze sculpture in Altenberg Cathedral. Illustration
  • Anno statue at the Cologne Council Tower

literature

  • Reinhold Schommers : Visual artists in the Cochem-Zell district, Werner Franzen. In: Heimatjahrbuch Cochem-Zell 1999, p. 40.
  • Hans-Peter Kreutz: Werner Franzen. In: ders: Three Conder résumés for art. In: Life on the River. Cond on the Moselle past and present. Edited by the village community pump festival Cochem-Cond. M. Heinz Bremm-Verlag, Cochem 2010, ISBN 978-3-927839-38-0 , pp. 521-522.

Web links

Commons : Werner Franzen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bronze angel
  2. ↑ Arno Paffrath: The crucified one hugs the two kneeling and praying cross theologians Bernhard von Clairvaux (1090–1153) and Martin Luther (1483–1546). Thoughts on the bronze sculpture in Altenberg Cathedral, created in 1987/1987 by the sculptor Werner Franzen. Digitized on the website of the Protestant Church Bebenhausen, accessed on December 7, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Franzen, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Cond
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 2014
Place of death Bergisch Gladbach