Wilhelm Kunst (wood sculptor)
Wilhelm Kunst (born August 8, 1909 in Zetel , Oldenburg; † January 13, 1986 there ) was a German wood sculptor .
Live and act
Wilhelm Kunst was the eldest of three siblings of the master blacksmith Wilhelm Kunst and Mrs. Meta, geb. Paradise. Already at a young age he felt his artistic streak and an inclination for the material wood . From 1924 to 1928 he was trained as a wood sculptor in Neuchâtel (Oldenburg) in one of the numerous wood carving companies located there at the time, with a final journeyman's examination. For another year he worked as a journeyman in another Neuchâtel company. While up until then he had mainly made furniture carvings and other flat and ornamental carvings , he now demanded skills in figurative wood carving.
In order to acquire these artistic skills, he attended the Bad Warmbrunn wood carving school in Silesia (today the Polish Ciepliece ) at the foot of the Giant Mountains from 1931 to 1935 , which at that time already had a very good international reputation. The wood sculptor Prof. Cirillo dell'Antonio , who came from the Italian Val Gardena and was both teacher and head of the school during these four years, had a special flair for dealing with the emerging artists. From him Wilhelm Kunst learned in particular the anatomy of humans and animals as well as the ratio theory. After returning from Silesia, he set up a workshop in his parents' house in Zetel as a freelance wood sculptor and passed his master craftsman examination that same year .
The outbreak of World War II took him to Africa, from where he returned wounded in 1942 and came to the recovery company in Quarmbeck / Quedlinburg . Here he met his wife Hanna from Gernrode . From June 2, 1946, an exhibition of works of art took place in Gernrode town hall . During this time there was hardly any work apart from a few odd jobs. However, he found employment as a wood carver for about a year before he returned to his homeland with his wife and child. There he resumed work in the workshop he had already set up.
However, the poor economic situation caused by the war initially brought him only very few orders. The first inquiries came from the parishes. And so it came about that the St. Martin's Church in his hometown of Zetel commissioned him to decorate the church in 1951 (Moses figure as pulpit bearer and the four evangelists, Holy Communion as predella ).
This was followed by orders from other churches throughout the Oldenburger Land (crucifixes, Madonnas, figures of saints, altar restorations, organ brochures, memorial plaques for the fallen). A constant collaboration with the organ building company Alfred Führer from Wilhelmshaven brought him several orders for extensive organ brochure carvings.
The spiral staircase and gallery in the hall of the historic Roselius house on Böttcherstrasse in Bremen can certainly be named as one of his most important works in the public sector . The baroque interior, which was destroyed during the war in 1944, was carved as a replica by Wilhelm Kunst between October 1953 and March 1954.
Gradually the people of his homeland became interested in his wood carving art. Characters from rural life or various professions, but also sports plaques and Christmas cribs were popular objects.
Wilhelm Kunst was a representational artist with an individual style of fine carving technique and a special expressiveness of his figures. He worked almost exclusively with linden and oak wood from the surrounding nature, which he worked with more than 100 different carving knives and always with Klöpfel .
In the early 1970s he joined the " Ernst Rülke Sculpture Circle ", an association of East German and Silesian wood sculptors who were former students at the Bad Warmbrunn wood carving school. Elsbeth Siebenbürger , a student of the former teacher and director of the school, Ernst Rülke, brought this group into being and organized regular exhibitions and symposia in which Wilhelm Kunst participated. In addition, he was also present at art exhibitions in the Oldenburger Land.
Wilhelm Kunst kept carving until the end of his life. He died of a stroke on January 13, 1986 and was buried in the New Cemetery in Zetel.
Memberships
- Handicrafts register of the Chamber of Skilled Crafts Oldenburg 1935–1986
- Deputy assessor in the master craftsman's examination committee of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts 1968–1986
- Sculpture group Ernst Rülke Esslingen
Exhibitions
- Exhibition of Gernröder Artists, Gernrode Town Hall 1946
- Sculpture group Ernst Rülke, Symposium Festenburg / Harz 1970
- Sculpture group Ernst Rülke, Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg 1973
- Sculpture group Ernst Rülke, Mainz 1979
- Sculpture group Ernst Rülke, Symposium Wunsiedel 1984
- Exhibition Wilhelm Kunst, Zetel History Workshop, 2002
Public works
- St. Martin's Church Zetel:
- Holy Communion (Predella), Moses, 4 Evangelists, 1951
- Christmas crib 1980
- Signpost to the Zetel bathing establishment
- St. Johannes Markhausen , reliefs lectern
- St. Nicolai Church Schmalförden , crucifix, 1952
- Gethsemane Church Bakum , crucifix
- Parish Neustadtgödens , plaque of the Fallen, 1952
- St. Martin in Tettens , crucifix, 1952
- Ev. Lutheran Christ Church Borkum , memorial plaques for the fallen, 1953
- Roselius house Böttcherstrasse Bremen , spiral staircase u. Gallery 1953–1954
- St. Laurentius Church Langwarden , memorial plaque for the fallen, 1954
- Parish Filsum , plaque of the Fallen, 1956
- Christ Church Brake -Nord, Christmas crib, 1956
- St. Johannes-Kirche Wiefelstede , John the Baptist, 1957
- St. Ansgari Church Bremen, organ prospectus, 1957, 1960
- St. Ansgar Church Bassum , statue of the Virgin Mary, 1959
- Christ Church Oldenbrok , altar restoration, 1960–1961
- Matthäus-Kirche Osnabrück , Christmas crib, 1963/1964
- St. Andreas Church in Cloppenburg , organ prospectus, 1965
- Lipari Cathedral / Italy, Saint Francis, 1966
- Free Evangelical Church Hesel / Leer , crucifix, 1977
- St. Margaretha Church Emstek , Christmas Angel
- Christophorus-Haus Brake, Saint Christophorus, 1978
- St. Trinitatis-Kirche (SELK) Oldenburg , crucifix 1978
- Hafenschule Varel , relief "Fischzug" 1975
- K + S AG Salzdetfurth ( Bad Salzdetfurth ), Saint Barbara, 1979
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rosemarie and Gerhard Kellermann, Chronicle of the City of Gernrode , publisher Gernroder Kulturverein Andreas Popperodt eV, Gernrode 2013, page 64
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Art, Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German wood sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zetel , Oldenburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 13, 1986 |
| Place of death | Zetel , Oldenburg |