Wilhelm Gösser

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Johann Wilhelm Gösser (born May 6, 1881 in Mühltal near Leoben , † March 10, 1966 in Graz ) was an Austrian sculptor.

Life

Created in 1936 for the corner house at Joanneumring 2 and Am Eisernen Tor, today it is set up in the garden of the Catholic branch of the Salvatorkirche in Körösistrasse

Wilhelm Gösser was the son of Hans Brandstetter and, like his father, apprenticed to Jakob Gschiel . From 1905 to 1912 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 1913 he received the Rome Prize for the monumental sculpture “Riff”, whose scholarship gave him study trips a. a. to Italy made possible. After military service with the "twenty-seven" Gösser lived and worked in Graz , where he taught at the Graz School of Applied Arts from 1920 to 1945 and was appointed professor and head of the sculpture department.

In 1933 Gösser joined the Graz local group of the NSDAP and left again in 1936 because he stopped paying contributions. An internal party assessment from 1941 also indicates party membership in the Fatherland Front . Numerous applications for admission by Gösser from 1940 onwards were rejected with reference to the NSDAP's membership ban.

His works include a bust of Hugo Wolf from 1945 in the park of the Palais Meran , a portrait relief of the chemist Friedrich Emich in Villeforthgasse and numerous other monuments and busts in Graz, as well as numerous grave monuments at the Graz central cemetery .

Gösser created the war memorial on the main square in Leibnitz from 1927 to 1930 together with Bruno Fiedler . At the exhibition German Artists and the SS in Salzburg in 1944 , he exhibited the work “Ritter von Schönerer”, the idol of Adolf Hitler Georg von Schönerer .

His Iron Wehrmann , created in 1916 and now in the Graz Garrison Museum, is to be regarded as a curiosity . In the memorial in the laundry room, a multimedia museum for contemporary history, the sculptor's ability to change under different living conditions and regimes is documented.

He is buried in the St. Leonhard Cemetery in Graz .

Selection of works

Awards

  • State Prize 1919 and 1921
  • Silver and Gold Medal of the City of Graz (1911 and 1920)
  • Citizenship of the City of Graz (1951)
  • In 1971 Wilhelm-Gösser-Gasse in Graz-Ragnitz was named after him.

literature

  • Gerhard Kurzmann, Ottfried Hafner, dead in Graz. Living Austrian history at the St. Leonhard Cemetery , Graz 1990.
  • Kurt Hildebrand Matzak, Wilhelm Gösser. Life and Work , Graz 1961.

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Gösser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin Derler / Ingrid Urbanek: Planning for Infinity - The Graz Central Cemetery; Steirische Verlagsgesellschaft mbH; 2002. ISBN 3-85489-086-9
  2. ↑ a b c d e final report of the expert commission for street names Graz , Graz 2017, p. 203ff
personal data
SURNAME Gösser, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gösser, Johann Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühltal near Leoben
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1966
Place of death Graz